


There's a Fish in the Birdcage!

by skyofblue_seaofgreen



Category: The Beatles (Band)
Genre: AAAA, Angst with a Happy Ending, More characters to be added, Octopus's Garden AU, Sirens!, but i hope you enjoy regardless!, i am trying my best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 29,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24986437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyofblue_seaofgreen/pseuds/skyofblue_seaofgreen
Summary: 🐟 Based off of Cirilee's Octopus's Garden AU 🐟John and George are two average pirates.Paul and Ringo are two average sirens.That is, until Ringo goes missing one stormy night. Since the pirates owe their lives to Paul, they agree to help him find Ringo. But what will happen on the way? Can the three of them manage with so many barriers? Will they even find Ringo alive?
Relationships: George Harrison & John Lennon & Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr, George Harrison & Ringo Starr, John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Comments: 56
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

John was not your average pirate. Sure, he looked the part. He had the cliché silver earring on his left ear and a braid of light brown hair halfway down his back. His thick eyebrows were often furrowed in a playful manner. Usually, he was wearing a white tunic with a large collar, a loose belt, brown pants that were a little too big, and black, scuffed boots. But he didn’t talk like a pirate; he talked like a scouser, and he wasn’t the killing type; he’d rather just teach them a lesson with a bash to the head. 

He also wasn’t so evil like the rest of his crew (and pirates in general). He didn’t like starting sea battles, or laughing when opponents had their ships sink. Even though he did have to fight sometimes, he and his best mate, George, usually tried to keep below deck. George was a little quiet and kept to himself and John only.

John was made a pirate as a boy, having run away from his troubled household in the night to a ship docking in the harbor. He was only 14 years old, but he knew how to fight, and he made a good addition to the crew.

When George came along, John was mesmerized. He’d been the youngest on the crew for around a year, but he knew how to fend for himself. He was always alone, even if he was surrounded by men, he still felt alone, inside his bubble. One evening, however, he saw a figure in a rowboat, following their ship, the  _ Dianthus. _ He helped the guy on board, and found out it was a boy, only a little younger than him, named George. John was overjoyed when he and George became mates and George was accepted onto the ship. They did everything together: ate at the same time, slept in the same cabin, washed the deck at the same shift, stole from men at the docks, and most of all, fought together.

John had been given a silver sword for his birthday from the captain of the ship, Captain Epstein. He wanted someone to use it with, so he asked George to practice fighting techniques with him, and gave his mate a rusted old sword that would hold up well. Now that they both had combat weapons, they had sword fights every free moment they got.

John became a vicious opponent. On the  _ Dianthus,  _ he was renowned for being one of the best fighters. When they got attacked by other ships, John often beat everyone he met, his sword clashing on theirs and quickly knocking them off deck.

His reputation soon grew bigger and bigger, and he was known across the oceans as someone you’d never want to cross. His bubble had popped, and he was appreciated, but also feared (except by George, who was still his best friend). He loved it.

That was, until he met the siren. 

It was a quiet evening on the sea. The breeze barely ruffled John’s hair as he leaned against the ship deck, a 16-year-old in need of someone to talk to. A party raged downstairs; John had been invited to join, but he didn’t want to go. He was too tired and felt a little sick. 

The black water shimmered under the moonlight. Clouds drifted across the inky sky, and John watched, hearing the distant singing of drunk pirates below deck. His eyelids shut slowly, but he fought to open them. He couldn’t be caught sleeping tonight; he’d be called a coward, a sissy. He’d be thrown off deck.

_ See,  _ he thought to himself.  _ That’s the problem with having this big image...whatever you do will either make or break you.  _ He leaned his head on his hand and sighed, wishing George was here to keep him awake instead of below deck partying. 

Before he knew it, he was half-asleep, his legs barely working to keep him up. He was about to immerse himself into a dream when a loud  _ bang _ sounded downstairs. John yelled and lost his footing on the floor, leaning back and falling overboard.

He didn’t have time to scream. He was falling too fast, seeing the ship get larger and larger above him. Was he going to die? He felt the sting of the water as he hit it, going under quickly, not finding the strength to swim. He felt dizzy as his eyelids closed like a curtain.

Just then, he felt someone carrying him. Quickly, John opened his eyes, forgetting he had to breathe. It looked like someone had saved him! It was a black-haired boy his age, who seemed to be increasingly quiet. John had never seen him before. Who was he, and why was he in the middle of the ocean? He looked down at John, noticed he was awake, and swam faster.

The person seemed to know John couldn’t breathe, and held him above the surface. John took a deep breath before going back down. The boy swam to the ship and reached up to put John in a window frame that was close to the bottom. He stared at John, wide-eyed.

“Thank you.” John mumbled, jumping into the room. “Want to get on?”

Before the boy could answer, John lifted him up onto the window frame, but almost dropped him right after. There was something…  _ different.  _ Way different. Instead of two legs, the boy had a shimmering, blue-scaled tail, like a fish.

“Oh my go--” John yelled as he quickly dropped him back into the ocean. It was a siren. The mythological creature that sang to lure pirates to their deaths. They were viewed as evil, but John had just been saved by one? The siren had a blue tail with blue tufts in his black hair, and prettiest of all, a shell necklace. In the middle was a glowing orange stone. Before he could look anymore, the siren slipped under the water, leaving John staring at nothing, just a shimmer of moonlight.

He couldn’t believe it. He was still in shock, hours, days, even months later. He told George over and over what he had seen. As he grew older, he never forgot the siren who’d saved his life. He decided he would repay them one day, even if it put him in grave danger. And one day, it did.


	2. Chapter 2

Ringo  pushed his many tentacles out behind him, looking for a sea-flower to put in his garden. He looked up at the surface of the water, making sure no humans were around. He was near the docks where ships stayed, so he had to stay vigilant in case one of them tried to snag him from the water.

Ringo was sort of a different siren. Instead of a fish tail, he had six yellow octopus tentacles and suction cups on the bottom of his arms. He had brown fuzzy hair with a stubble, and sad blue eyes. He loved to garden, he’d been doing almost his entire life. His garden was where he lived with his best friend, Paul, who had a blue fish tail and tufts of blue in his black hair. Paul had met a non-hostile human before. He’d saved it from drowning once, when he was younger. Ringo thought that was cool, mostly because he was attracted to humans and their things. He collected them and put them in his garden. He and Paul were very close, and they’d even given each other bonding shell necklaces when they were younger. When the orange shell glowed in the middle, they were thinking about each other. Ringo would be devastated if he was separated from Paul.

He’d heard from the other sirens that someone had been stolen by the humans and eaten. That terrified him, of course. Humans were usually more powerful than sirens, even though they didn’t possess soothing, hypnotizing voices, tentacles with the force of a shark, or gills that helped them breathe underwater. But they were very smart, even smarter than a dolphin, and they could construct weapons. Ringo knew those weapons could kill, because he’d been a victim to them before.

When he was six years old, he was first learning to collect things without getting caught. One morning he was getting a broken bottle from the ocean floor while his mother, Shena, and his father, Thalin, watched him. They were dangerously near the docks, but Shena reassured Ringo that everything would be okay with a swish of her tail. So Ringo crept slowly forward, reaching his hand out for the shimmering green bottle.

At that moment, a small black pellet broke through the water, speeding down and landing in Thalin’s octopus tentacle. Swirly red blood came out, and Shena panicked, telling Ringo to swim. He darted away and hid in some seagrass, watching as his mother got hit with another pellet. She worked through the pain, examining her husband’s wound with care and wincing. As Thalin got weaker, Ringo couldn’t take it anymore. He swam toward his mother with some seaweed, wrapping it around her injury. She looked up at him with devastation in her eyes, Thalin going limp in her arms. Ringo noticed her strength failing. He knew she wasn’t going to make it and hugged her tightly as she got heavier and heavier, finally going cold.

Tears streaming down his red face, it made it hard to see the net coming down in the water to pick up his parents. Another pellet came through the water, and Ringo swam into the seaweed, trying not to scream at the humans for taking his parents away from him. 

He went back to their garden and began collecting his parents’ old things and holding them close to his heart. Why had the humans killed his family? Why did he have to want that bottle? Why...had he been so stupid? He’d spent his whole life thinking humans were kind creatures, but now he knew they were just as evil as the other sirens told him they were. Ringo would never forgive them, not  _ ever _ , for what they’d done to him.

That night, as he slept in the seaweed by himself, he felt a fish tail tap his shoulder. He woke up immediately, thinking it was his mother, and turned around. To his dismay, it wasn’t Shena. It was a siren his age, with a blue fish tail. “C-can I sleep here tonight?” the other siren asked. “M-my parents were t-taken by the humans.”

“Mine too,” Ringo replied, moving over so Paul could sleep next to him. “Y-you can sleep here if you want.” 

Paul smiled and scooted next to Ringo, crossing his arms and resting his head on them. “Did they shoot your parents with those little black pellets?” he asked after a while of awkward silence. 

“Yeah. Yours too?” Ringo replied, turning to look at Paul.

“Uh-huh. Did you get hit?”

“No...did you?”

Paul nodded slowly, wincing as he moved his tail over. Near the fins, a few layers of seaweed were wrapped around and around a deep red cut. Ringo stared at it, shocked, and carefully prodded the seaweed back. There was sand all over the injury. “Do you mind if I re-bandage it?” Ringo asked, glancing up at Paul. “Did you do this all by yourself?”

“Yeah.” Paul shrugged. Ringo swam over to a spot in his garden and pulled some new, fresh seaweed out of the ground. He scooped the sand away with a little shell and then wrapped the seaweed around Paul’s tail tight. “Feel better?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you.” Paul murmured, moving his tail back. As Ringo put the shell away, he said something else. “Since...we’re both on our own now...do you want to be friends?”

Ringo swam back to Paul. “S-sure! I mean, of course!” he laughed, half in disbelief and half in joy. “Here, I have just the thing.” Quickly, he went over to an old chest and opened it. Inside was more jewelry than the average woman owned. Ringo pulled out a long shell-and-pearl necklace and broke it in half. Then, he tied the ends of one half together, then the other, to make two necklaces. 

Hesitantly going over to Paul, Ringo gave him one. “This’ll make us best friends!” he said, putting his on his neck. “When the stone glows in the middle, we’re thinking about each other. Everyone will know that we’re gonna be friends. I-if you want…”

Paul stared at the necklace, and for a moment, Ringo lost hope.  _ He doesn’t want it. That’s okay, I guess.  _ But then, Paul gently took it and put it on. “Okay.”

Ever since then, Ringo and Paul had been together. They stole things from the docks, made gardens everywhere, followed pirate ships, and more. Paul’s cut healed up eventually, and all that remained was a pink scar under shimmering blue scales.

Ringo still couldn’t forgive the humans, though. He loved Paul to bits, but if they hadn’t killed his parents that day, maybe he would have just liked them a little more. If his voice was more powerful, he would be luring pirates of ships every day. Paul was the one who was talented at hypnotizing, with his soothing melodic vocal skills. But for now, Ringo had to be satisfied with swiping humans’ things from the ocean before they could grab them back.

Anyway, once Ringo had heard about the humans eating the siren, he was petrified and angry. There those creatures went again, doing things that hurt the planet they lived on. Ringo had heard two fish-tailed sirens, Pirea and Daphirose, talking about it when he was collecting shells for their new garden.

“Did you hear about Zhafe?” Pirea asked Daphirose. Ringo perked his ears as he got a pretty swirl shell from a clump of seagrass and put it into his pile.

“No, what happened?” Daphirose replied.

“He was by the docks and got shot in the tail.” Pirea said, pointing to the spot on her tail where Zhafe’d been hit. “Then, they pulled him out of the water...and a few nights later, you could smell his tail cooking in a pirate ship’s kitchen.”

Pirea gasped, and Ringo’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately picked up one more shell and darted to their garden, where Paul was sitting and singing a melody. “Do you remember Zhafe?” he spluttered as he dropped his shells.

“Yes...the big cocky guy?” Paul responded nonchalantly.

“He got killed. And  _ eaten _ .” Ringo said urgently.

Paul raised his head higher. “Really?”

“Yes! Do you know what this means? They want us...as food now!” 

Paul took a shell from Ringo’s pile and turned it over, his eyes filled with confusion and turmoil. “So that means...they might try to kill us more often now.” He began biting at a fingernail, scanning the seafloor. “Just like my parents…”

“And mine,” Ringo added, lining the shells along the rim of their garden. “What do we do? Move away from the docks? We were just starting to make our home here. For good. But should we move now…?”

Paul shook his head. “No. If we lay low, then we will stay safe. The humans can’t see far into the water, and we’re deep...but if they start shooting at you, move fast! Don’t worry about me, okay?” He drew a plan in the sand with a stick. “Just swim.”

“O-okay…” Ringo nodded. “But what if they get you?”

Paul leaned back and looked at Ringo with determination. “Like I said,  _ don’t worry about me _ . I’m a fast swimmer, so I’ll get out of the human’s grasp if I get caught.” he planned. “But you might not.”

Ringo looked down at the sand and traced a circle, his eyes watering in fear. He sniffed, and Paul noticed, coming over to his best friend and smiling. “Don’t worry! If anything happens, just trust me on this one: somehow, we’ll always find our way back together again.”


	3. Chapter 3

George  was  _ this  _ close to slapping everyone on this entire ship. His eye twitched as the two pirates scrubbing the deck with him, Lawson “Shark-Bait” Rhys and Elwin “Ghost-Eyes” Reyson, mercilessly teased him about not drinking at last night’s party.

He pushed the mop deeper into the wood as Shark-Bait chanted, “Little Georgie Porgie wants to be a good boy for cap’n!” and Ghost-Eyes roared his head off. George sighed and kept mopping, trying to block them out. He noticed John watching from starboard. George felt more reassured; if anything went wrong, John would be there to break up the fight.

As Ghost-Eyes and Shark-Bait chanted louder, Captain Epstein came up from his captain’s quarters, his eyes flaming with anger. “What is going on here?” he asked, and all three pirates froze.

“N-nothin, sir!” Ghost-Eyes replied.

“Why are you yelling at George?” the captain demanded, and George relaxed. “It’s disrupting your work! Now both of you have to do the whole deck. George, you can quit for the day.”

John grinned as George walked over to him, making a crude face at Shark-Bait and Ghost-Eyes. “Well, you got out of that one pretty quickly, didn’t you?” John asked playfully.

“Yeah,” George shrugged. They were at the docks in some town, next to a few other ships. They were supposed to be on the water that week, but since lightning had struck their ship in a storm, they had to repair it at shore. George looked down at the ship and the crew trying to fix it. It was going to take a while to get back on the ocean again.

“Are you hungry?” George asked, feeling peckish himself.

“No. You can go get food if you’d like.” John shrugged.

George nodded and left to go find some food. He got down to the town and managed to steal some bread from a distracted baker, quickly running back to the ocean.

He found himself on a small cliff near the beach shore, snacking on the bread he’d gotten. He sat on the grass, looking down at the tide running back and forth. Finishing his bread, he laid down in the shade for an after-lunch nap.

It was hard to sleep, even in the shade. He felt uneasy, like someone knew he was there. Slowly, he began hearing a smooth and graceful song. Something about it lured him to get up and look over the cliff, where it was coming from. He looked over the edge, trying to find the voice. He wanted to follow it to the ends of the Earth.

Making his way quickly to the beach shore, George couldn’t get the song out of his head. It wasn’t saying anything in particular that George could understand, but he still  _ loved, loved, loved  _ it! He scrambled to a stop as the voice got louder.

It was a siren making the noise. The creature that led pirates to their inevitable deaths. A hint of a note would hit a pirate’s ear, and he was gone. But George didn’t care, and he pushed it all the way as he immersed himself into the water, setting his eyes on the siren.

It was a male, and he didn’t notice George following him. The siren had a dark blue fishtail, and had black frizzy hair with tufts of blue, a pearl-and-shell necklace for jewelry on. He was leaning against a rock, looking at a colorful shell and singing his heart out. George was up to his chest now, but he kept going. He had to get to that siren. 

All of a sudden, the siren stopped, his voice melting away. George blinked, trying to figure out what had happened. He set his gaze back on the siren, who was staring right back at him, bewildered. Something about the blue-tailed man sparked something in George. He felt like he knew it from somewhere…

Then it came to him.

He and John had been sitting in their cabin a few years ago, and John was talking about the time he’d almost drowned and been saved by a siren. He described it as a “blue-tailed, black-haired siren with a necklace.”

And that was right in front of George.

He blinked a few more times, doing double takes. The siren flicked its fins and dove back into the ocean as fast as lightning, leaving George dodging gentle waves. He couldn’t believe what he just saw. The thought occurred to him that he had to tell John.

Rushing back onto the ship, sopping wet, he practically stumbled into John, who was still leaning against the deck. “Holy...what happened to you?” the latter asked, bewildered. 

“I saw the siren!” George gasped. “The one...that saved you!”

John’s eyes were as wide as saucers as the other pirates stared at them. He pulled George’s wet shirt downstairs into their cabin and sat him down on the bed. “What...did you see?”

George explained what had happened, not missing a beat. John’s heart began going faster and faster. So he  _ had  _ seen the right one. After all these years, John must’ve realized, it was still alive.


	4. Chapter 4

Paul  twirled his finger around a bracelet he’d been making out of seaweed and akoya pearls, feeling bored. He hadn’t had anything to do all day, and he wanted to go above the water, back to the cove where he’d seen the pirate. However, after he’d told Ringo about the encounter, his friend had grounded him from going up there again. Paul could slightly understand; Ringo was worried about him. 

He looked up at the shimmering surface of the water, wondering if he could slip away without Ringo noticing. He was planting a sea-flower with his back turned to Paul. The blue-tailed siren bit his lip and flicked the fins on his tail. 

“Ringo...are you hungry?” he asked.

Ringo turned around. “Yeah. I’ll get something to eat if you’d like?”

Paul nodded. He’d liked to go, but he knew Ringo would have  _ never  _ let him. With a defeated sigh, he flicked a fin, lying back on the stone he was sitting on. 

He could see gray clouds forming over the sky. A storm would come soon. At least they had a little cave to go into if the waters got too rough. Paul was so happy they’d found this place. Even if it was a bit dangerous, it had charm and lots of fish.

Paul lifted up his bracelet and let the remaining sunlight shine against the pearls. He smiled.

After a few more minutes, Paul sat up. Where was Ringo? He was a skilled hunter. Usually it didn’t take him long to find something. 

Worry set in. What if he wasn’t okay?

_ No, no. Maybe it is just hard hunting today _ . Paul nodded in agreement of his own thought and relaxed back on the smooth stone. It wasn’t the most comfortable, and he quickly grew irritated and more anxious.

_ I’ll just go after him and see if he’s alright. Then I’ll come back.  _ Paul thought, tail swishing as he left the stone. His necklace glowing was getting in the way of his vision, so he pushed it down toward his chest and kept swimming.

He hadn’t seen Ringo yet. As he weaved through bunches of seaweed and rocks, he noticed how many fish were swimming around today. He should have no trouble finding food today.

Now panic was attacking Paul with fury, and to top it all off, his necklace stopped glowing abruptly. It wasn’t a gentle fade out, it was an immediate slice and the light was gone.

“Ringo!” Paul called, voice cracking miserably. “Ringo?”

Nothing. Not even a whisper.

“Ringo,” Paul shrieked as he began to swim faster. His eyes searched for a hint of yellow, a dash of brown. Nothing. Just a blur of green and blue and black…

Just then, Paul’s hand brushed something. He was snapped out of his worry and glanced around. He was at the docks now.  _ I shouldn’t be here.  _ He looked down at what his hand had brushed and almost vomited.

It was Ringo’s necklace.

And it was broken in half.


	5. Chapter 5

John wasn’t prepared for the bump that hit the ship that stormy evening. He and George had been playing a rough game of cards in their quarters when it came. Normally he wouldn’t have cared, but it was way too rough and way too loud. And also, shouting followed it.

“What was that?” he said under his breath, setting his cards down face-down. George did the same, looking around for anything. “It sounded like it was on deck. Let’s go see, eh?”

“Yeah,” George seemed worried when he saw John taking his sword from under his mattress. “Should I take mine too?”

“Might as well,” John replied. 

George worriedly sifted around under his bed. “Can’t find it.”

“Let’s just go up anyway,” John said. “It might not be anything.”

George’s face was pale as he followed John up the steps to the deck. John knew it couldn’t be anything too bad, but it was hard to assure himself after such a loud noise.

When they got up to the deck, it was bad.

Pirates from the ship across from them were fighting with the ones from the Dianthus, swords clashing and voices straining. George’s eyes grew even wider, but he couldn’t go back to find his sword now. “Stay behind me,” John ordered, holding his own sword tighter. “Don’t leave, and fistfight if you need to!”

“Okay,” George nodded quickly. He and John then plunged into the battle. The first sailor he saw was looking around warily for someone to fight with. Taking his chance, John smacked him on the head with the flat edge of his sword. With a yelp of pain he whirled around. All he had was a pithy knife. John knew, though, that looks good be deceiving.

He took a deep breath and lifted up his sword, but the other pirate defended him with his knife, pressing the blade into John’s. John took the sword out from under and aimed it at the pirate’s belly, getting ready to plunge it in. The pirate, spooked, backed up and disappeared in the crowd.

John glanced back. George was still behind him, trying to look small to risk being seen by anybody. “One down, a thousand to go,” he joked. George let out an airy breath of laughter.

John went through the crowd, defeating as many pirates as he could. George offered some punches and got some back, but overall they were doing pretty well. 

Then John saw the captain. A big, rough man that was jacked.

It was heading for Captain Epstein’s quarters. “Come on.” John said urgently. He went in pursuit of the captain, trying to be as quiet as possible. He held his sword with both hands, then poked it into the man’s back right as he was reaching for the quarter’s doorknob.

The captain turned, looking a bit fearful, but then relaxed. “Oh. It’s just a little boy!” he growled. John noticed all the scars on his face and hands. He was a skilled fighter, but then again, so was John.

“Get out of here, you rat,” John spat, eyes dark.

“Right back at you.” the captain grinned, teeth cracked and yellow. John suddenly lurched forward with his sword toward the captain’s chest, but he pulled out his own to deflect it. John and the captain’s swords clashed, but he blocked the man’s fighting with skill and intellect. He smiled, confidence filling him.

But he was caught too off guard. The captain’s sword sliced his jawline coming down, and blood spurted out of the cut. John swallowed the pain down and lodged his own sword into the captain’s neck. Now he’d gotten the upper hand, and the captain was defenseless.

“Alright…” his voice was gurgly. “You win.”

John panted as he pulled the sword out of the captain’s neck. “Get out of here,” John repeated. “And take your mangy crew with you.”

The captain, bleeding profusely, ran out onto the deck. “Retreat!” he roared, a little blood coming from his mouth. “Retreat!”

The pain on his jaw was starting to hit John hard. He pressed his hand into his face, when all the sudden something else entirely hit him. 

Where was George?

“George?” He whirled around. “George!”

As the defeated pirates swarmed off the  _ Dianthus,  _ John weaved through the injured crewmates, looking for George. “ _ Geo! Geo! _ ” 

He found Captain Epstein tending to a bruise. “John? What’s wrong?” he said, looking oddly tender for his usual mien. “You look awful!”

“Where’s George?” John asked, on the verge of tears.

“You can’t find him?” Captain stood up as John shook his head. “I’ll ask the least injured to look for him. You have to get fixed up, though.”

John sniffed, worried. He didn’t like the feeling of fear. It made him vulnerable and overly emotional. But it was hard to keep fear away from him now. George had been his best mate since they first met. He couldn’t just be... _ gone. _

He found himself in the surgeon’s room, waiting to get treated. His jaw stung like fury, but that was nothing compared to the guilt he was feeling. George didn’t have a weapon to fight with, and now he was gone because John had him stay on deck, defenseless.

As the surgeon tended to his injury, John squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe if he just blocked everything out, it would all turn out fine. When he opened his eyes, George would be sitting right in front of him and they would be playing cards on the table again.

He opened his eyes. To no surprise, he was still with the surgeon.

“I have to find George,” he whispered.

“No, no,” the surgeon said as he applied a massive square bandage to John’s cut. “You’re not going anywhere until you’ve rested enough to get yourself back on track.”

“I have to find him!” John replied. “He might be in trouble.”

The surgeon lowered his eyebrows. “No.”

John stayed silent. But he  _ was  _ going out.

As soon as he left the surgeon’s (after vowing he wouldn’t go out), John went out. Vows didn’t mean much to him anyway. They’re just words. He didn’t care that a storm was already brewing. He was leaving, and that was a fact. He had to find George, and he wouldn’t come back until he did.


	6. Chapter 6

Paul let out the last couple sobs come out as he curled up in his sea-cave, guilt, fear, and pain wracking his body all at the same time. Ringo was gone, and it was all his fault. He was the one who had wanted food. He would be in Ringo’s place instead if he hadn’t been hungry. He would starve for a thousand years if he could have Ringo back.

A storm had been brewing for the past few hours since Paul had gone back to the garden, clutching Ringo’s necklace in his hands. Eyesight blurry, he glanced outside. Everything seemed to be normal. How could life go on without somebody like Ringo there to go on with it?

Paul crept slowly out of his sea-cave, feeling as useless as a slug. He laid his head on his crossed arms, gazing in sadness at the waving seaweed. What could he do now? Ringo was gone, and without him Paul didn’t have any purpose. 

His necklace hadn’t glowed in a long time, which probably meant Ringo was dead. It was a hard fact to face, but he couldn’t just ignore it. For some reason, though, he wanted to keep the necklace on, just in case. There was a glimmer of hope, but it was fading quick.

Paul closed his eyes.

Just then, a loud crash made them fly right back open. 

Paul glanced up, eyes wide. A human had launched into the water with the force of a boulder. Terror filled him up, and he raced back into his sea-cave, heart pounding against his ribcage. What would make a human jump into the water so vigorously like that? Was he looking for Paul?  _ At least I’ll be with Ringo if I die,  _ he thought with a hiccuping sob.

But as he waited, petrified in the back of his sea-cave, he realized that this human was not looking for him. From what he could see, it hadn’t moved since it was thrown into the water. Paul knew humans couldn’t breathe underwater. That probably meant it was drowning.

Not that he cared. Humans were evil, disgusting creatures that didn’t deserve to walk the earth. He huffed and flicked his tail, sticking his tongue out at the limp human. Not like that did much, but it got the point across.

He turned around and sped back into his sea-cave, but as he sat there, he knew something was wrong. It wasn’t like him to leave someone helpless.  _ Fine,  _ he thought with a pout.  _ I’ll go help it. _

Gently and carefully, he crept outside his cave for a second time, quickly going up to the human. It had gotten its head partially above the water, but it obviously wasn’t doing well. Paul got a little closer and flinched. Its arm was cut severely and sending red clouds of blood up into the water. He glanced down at the faded scar that snaked across his blue tail. He knew how that felt.

The human was male, with bushy brown hair and half-closed eyes of the same color. It wasn’t big, but was good-sized, and it looked pretty much full-grown. Paul recognized it...oh! It was the human he’d seen the day before! Maybe that was justification enough to help him. But it was one of those...what were they called...pirates. He was injured, though, and Paul wasn’t. So he had the upper fin. 

Well, they weren’t far from shore. Paul pushed his hands into the shoulders of the pirate and began moving him along, tail churning powerfully. They weren’t far from the docks, but he didn’t want to go there. He knew that if he went to the place he’d met the human earlier, they could maybe...bond?

Maybe the human could tell him if he’d seen Ringo.

Fueled by determination, Paul got to the shore a bit off from the docks. There was a small cave there to shelter them, its roof stretching out to the water. Paul pushed the human on the shore and stared down at him. Wasn’t he supposed to breathe now?

Confused, Paul pressed on his stomach. Maybe he was filled with water. He pushed harder, and then the human let out a choke, water spurting from his mouth. 

Terrified and not knowing what to do, Paul lunged into the water, staring wide-eyed as the human coughed all the water out. Was he supposed to assist with something? The blood from its arm had spread everywhere too. Paul knew, like sirens, if humans lost too much blood, they’d die.

What could he bandage him with? He looked around. Seaweed wouldn’t do much. He noticed the human had two orange cloths around his head and waist. He could use those! Paul slowly got out of the water and approached the human, tentative. “Can I have one of those?” he asked, gesturing toward the cloths.

The human looked petrified. Its eyes were wide, but it looked slightly weary. “Can I?” Paul repeated. The human tilted its head in confusion and said something Paul didn’t understand, eyes lighting up.  _ Crap, we’re not going to be able to understand each other! _ He decided to persist with the bandaging and slowly reached up to unravel the cloth from the human’s head. It flinched away.

“Wait, no,” Paul said quietly. He reached up again, and the human tensed as he unraveled the cloth. He stared at him in confusion, but then finally understood as Paul went over to the wound on his arm. He gently touched it, and the human let out a cry of pain.

_ Hmmm. _

There was a lot of sand in his cut, and Paul needed to get it out or else it would get all red and puffy. He knew it would hurt, but Paul had to get some water onto it. He moved over to the water and cupped some in his hands, quickly dumping it on the wound. All the sand was washed out, but the human was on the verge of tears. “Sorry,” Paul rushed to say. He blew on the cut, and the human seemed to relax. He began to gently sing, binding the cloth around the human’s arm. The pirate seemed to relax now, and Paul finished bandaging. “See? Easy!”

The human examined the bandage and then reached forward to hug Paul, murmuring something in his ear that sounded like gratitude. “Well, you’re welcome,” Paul said.

The human then pulled back. He put his hands to his chest and said something that sounded vaguely like “George.” He did the same motion three times, saying “George” every time.  _ Is that his name _ ?

Paul pointed to the human. “G-George?” he repeated.

George looked delighted, and Paul tried the same thing. “Paul.”

George smirked. “Paul?” he repeated. “Just Paul?”

_ My name probably means something else in their language,  _ Paul thought with distaste.  _ Oh well! George means “big-bellied” in our language, so.  _

Then he remembered. “Ringo?” he asked.

George looked confused. “Ringo…?”

“Have...you...seen...Ringo?” Paul attempted.

George just shrugged, and then yawned. Paul was disappointed, but whatever. He was tired too. It had been a long day. But there were better places to sleep than the sand on a stormy shore.

“Wait,” Paul grabbed George’s pant leg. They wouldn’t be safe out here anyway. “Come on.”

George opened his eyes, disgruntled as he sat up. “Hmm?” he hummed. Paul began moving deeper into the cave. There was dry sand there and it was humid but warm. He motioned for George to follow.

They got to the middle of the cave. There was a hole in the roof, but the rain gently drizzled into a small pool illuminated by pale moonlight. Paul settled down in the sand beside it, George curling up next to him. George rested his hand on Paul’s, and the siren flinched. 

Was this how it felt to be...loved by a human? Paul didn’t know. But it felt  _ great. _


	7. Chapter 7

Ringo  didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to survive in the tiny birdcage he had been shoved into, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t turn out good. He had been drifting in and out of consciousness for a while now too. 

All he remembered tracking down a goldfish for Paul last afternoon before something was shot into his neck, cutting his necklace off. Then everything went black, and he woke up curled uncomfortably in this tiny birdcage, his tentacles spilling out of the bars and his head pushed against the top. Two humans were talking to each other, exchanging their little currency before one human picked up the cage, and Ringo was out again. He felt sick, and all he wanted was water.

He was worried about Paul. How was he faring? Did he miss him? Would he ever see Paul again? What if the humans had gotten him too? It made Ringo even more dizzy to worry about Paul, so when he wasn’t passed out he was asleep. He knew he didn’t make for a very interesting siren for the human’s children to look at, but he didn’t care at this point.

Ringo blinked, opening his eyes as sunlight streamed in through the small window in the corner of the room. He had been hung from the ceiling of what looked like a small shelter. Little strange artifacts were below him and around him, and all the swinging he had been doing was making him queasy again.

He realized there was something on his stomach, a little brown mushy thing. Crumbs came out of it when he pressed it, and he didn’t know what to do with it. It hadn’t been there when he fell asleep the night before. Ringo hoped it was food. He was starving. He took a hesitant bite out of it. It didn’t taste too bad, so he assumed it was food and ate it. Now all he needed was water. Maybe if he got food, he’d get water next.

Ringo slid his tentacle through the birdcage bars and reached around. He didn’t see any keys to open the cage, so the humans probably had them. He leaned back and sighed, pulling his tentacle back in. What if he never got out of here?


	8. Chapter 8

John had been looking for George the whole night, worriedly going out on the docks and even into the village, but there was no sign of him. As he rested against a tree, he was losing hope. He was tired, frustrated, and terrified. What if he never found George?

He couldn’t go back to the ship, though. He promised himself he wouldn’t until he found George. So he’d spend the next day looking too. He yawned. He just had to catch some sleep.

This tree wasn’t exactly the best place to rest. John stood up, hands shaking with exhaustion, and looked around. He didn’t have enough money to find an inn, so he’d have to sleep outside.

He wandered back to the docks, walking along the shore. The sand was damp from the storm that had happened last night, but it felt warm under John’s feet. He noticed a cave a bit farther down, its roof stretching a bit over the water. That might be a good place.

Determined, John began picking up speed, relishing the thought of sleep. He jumped over a few stones and peeked into the cave. It was silent there.  _ Thank the lord,  _ he thought as he stumbled inside.

As he got deeper, he noticed a hole in the roof of the cave. Sunshine poured in through the hole, making the pool below it bright with light. Stones in the middle of the pool were slick and shining.

John yawned again, smiling as he laid down in the warm, sun-lit sand. He closed his eyes, letting the warmth sink into him as he spiraled into sleep.

“John! John! Wake up!”

John grumbled with irritation as he opened one eye. Had someone from the  _ Dianthus  _ found him? He turned around groggily, but then his eyes lit up. George!

He reached forward and slammed into a hug with him, burying his face into his shoulder. “George,” he said, his voice filled with relief. “You’re okay.”

“Well, kind of,” George pulled back and showed John his arm. It was bandaged, and a bit of blood was in the center. “Someone threw me off the ship and I cut my arm.”

“I’m sorry I left you,” John rushed to say. “I didn’t mean to…”

George’s brown eyes softened. “I know,” he said. “But it’s okay now. Somebody helped me.”

“Who?” John tilted his head.

George glanced back over his shoulder. John looked up to see…

“Oh my god.”

The siren. The same siren that had saved his life so many years ago. Black hair, blue tail, same necklace. “You,” John whispered. “You saved my life.”

The siren shrugged with a shy smile. “Yeah.”

“I taught him how to say a few words in English,” George said proudly. “But at least he can understand us now.”

John moved forward, all his tiredness melting away. “What’s your name?” he asked quietly. 

“Paul,” the siren shrugged again.

_ Just Paul?  _

“I’m John. T-thank you for saving me.”

“Long time back.” Paul said, still a bit sheepish. 

“He means it was a long time ago,” George added.

“Still,” John said. “I would be dead if it hadn’t been for you.”

“No problem.” Paul beamed. 

“I guess we both owe our lives to Paul,” George said. “But now Paul needs some help with something.” 

The siren took a deep breath, as if he’d been practicing for this. “Friend Ringo...humans take,” he stuttered, his English horribly broken. “I not know where...Ringo…” His face turned a bit red and he stopped.

“You don’t know where he is?” John asked.

Paul shook his head.

“Those nasty pirates from other ships take sirens,” George said with a scowl. “He may be there. But there’s no way to know where he is. We don’t have any evidence.”

“I have,” Paul said. He moved over to a spot in the sand and dug up an identical necklace to his, except it was cut. “Ringo’s.”

“That’s his?” George took the necklace gently from Paul, looking over it. It was very well designed, with proper weaving of the shells and strong rope that they hung on. It would have been prettier if the stone in the middle was glowing.

Paul nodded. “Normal day, stone light,” he said, pointing to the orange stone, “when Ringo...or I...think each other.”

“The stone lights up when they think about each other.” George said. “But you have to wear it to make it light?” Paul nodded slowly. 

“So we would know if Ringo was alive if he was still wearing it.” John sighed. “But he’s not, because it broke off.”

Paul looked defeated. “We will not know where Ringo…”

John stared at the siren, disappointed. Seeing Paul so sad made him feel that way too. “Don’t worry.” he said, standing up. “We’ll find ‘im. I’ve found George, so we’ve got to find Ringo. He can’t be far now.”

Paul looked up. “Leaving me?”

“We won’t leave you here alone.” George smiled, patting his hand. “The  _ Dianthus  _ will be the same without us.”

Paul looked relieved. “I help find Ringo too,” he nodded. “We do it together.” 

“Yeah.” 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> uh oh scary

Ringo  stared out the tiny square window in the corner of the room, wearily blinking as he tried to clear his vision. He was still exhausted, after hardly getting any sleep in this tiny cage. It was almost unbearable to sit in here all day, but at least the humans had finally figured out that he was supposed to have water to live. They’d put a tub of lukewarm water in the room, and every so often they’d let him in. But it was  _ not  _ the same as the ocean.

As he sat in the tiny cage hour after hour, he began to miss Paul more than anything. How was he holding up without him? If he was going to die here, he’d at least like to see him one last time. But he knew that would probably never happen.

Well, it wouldn’t if Paul didn’t try and find him. But how would he do that? He needed water, and Ringo wasn’t in the ocean. Unless a human  _ helped  _ him, that is. But, again, Ringo knew that would probably never happen.

So he was stuck here. On the roof of a human building, in a cramped cage that was meant for a parrot, not a full-grown siren. Just something shiny to look at, and that was all he’d ever be. Until his inevitable death.

Ringo closed his eyes and sighed.  _ Well, not if I do something about it. _

He sat up, immediately bumping his head on the top of a cage. “Ouch,” he muttered, rubbing his head. It was time to look for a way out of here. He’d already established the fact that there was no key to the lock anywhere in sight, and so he couldn’t just unlock the cage. So he’d have to break his way out.

He glanced up at the top of the cage. It was hanging from the ceiling, sure, but it didn’t seem very sturdy. The chain holding it together was flimsy and rusted. Maybe if he shook the cage enough, it would fall from the ceiling and break open. It would hurt, but maybe he could manage it.

Ringo narrowed his eyes, preparing for intense pain. He grabbed two of the bars and began to heave himself back and forth, back and forth. He could hear the creaking of the cage, and it made him more excited, but a little panicky. He shook it harder, his heart starting to pound faster and faster. Soon the chain was almost broken, and he would just need one more swing to get it down.

Bracing for impact, he closed his eyes, grabbed the bars tight and made one last, gigantic heave. Then, all in an instant, the chain snapped and he was plummeting to the floor. There was a  _ bang  _ and a  _ clank  _ and then his head was pounding.

He opened his eyes slowly, rubbing his head once more. The cage was upside-down, and so was he, but he could see that he wasn’t on the ceiling anymore! 

Ringo pushed himself up and the cage came back rightside-up. He took in a deep breath, relieved he hadn’t hurt himself too badly. And then his eyes landed on a massive dent in the lock. 

So it hadn’t broken all the way, but it was close.

What could he use to break it? It was on the verge of unlocking. He looked around, and he could see a shelf full of sharp things just in his reach. He stuck his arm out of two bars and reached for a large tool, but he could just barely reach it. He heaved himself forward and the cage went too. He grabbed the tool, turned back to the lock, and in a fury of excitement and paranoia, he pounded the tool against it, and before he knew it, the lock busted apart and laid on the ground in shambles.

“Yes!” Ringo whispered, pushing the small door open. He squeezed his way out. He was free!

_ What should I do now?  _ he thought, glancing around the room. Then he saw the tub. He was reminded of the amazing thing that was water, and he went over to it as fast as possible, dunking his head into it. He felt the water spread all over his aching head, and it made him feel so much better.

But he couldn’t spend that much time in here. He had to get out before the humans found him out of the cage. And he didn’t know what kind of punishment they would inflict on him.

Ringo took one last dip in the water, refreshing himself. How he missed  _ water,  _ and even if it wasn’t as cool as he was used to, it was still water. He reluctantly pulled himself out of the tub and stared around the room again, feeling a lot more energized.

When the humans came in, they used that big square thing on the wall. He didn’t know how they opened it, but he did know it had to do with the round golden thing near the side. He could fiddle around with it to see what it would do!

First he pressed the round thing, but it didn’t do anything. Then he pulled it, and it just caused it to stiffen up. So he let go of it. What else could he do? Did the humans say something to make it open?

He pushed it again, just to make sure, but it didn’t budge.

Well, he was stumped. There wasn’t that many ways that round thing could go. He stared at it for a bit longer, but there was an itching feeling that he needed to think  _ quicker.  _ He grabbed one of his tentacles and began to gently twist it back and forth, something he did when he was nervous.

Wait. Could he  _ twist  _ it?

Ringo grabbed the thing and twisted it to the right. There was a little  _ click  _ and...it opened! A grin spread across his face and he pushed the square thing a bit further, peeking out to see his surroundings.

_ How odd.  _ In front of him was a long hallway, with a window at the end. There was a little pathway that diverged from the main hallway, hopefully leading out of this place. Ringo sighed in relief. Now he could go back to the ocean and forget this whole thing ever happened.

But suddenly, he heard faint footsteps coming down the other path. Terrified, he froze up, not knowing what to do. The footsteps got louder, and just then, a tall male human turned the corner, eyes blazing with fury.

Ringo was caught.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ouch

George  stared out across the blue horizon, carrying some wood planks in his arms. He was watching for the flick of Paul’s blue tail under the water to show that he was still following George. And after a few moments, he saw it.

Another wave of relief carried through him. Even though he was pretty sure Paul was his and John’s friend now, he couldn’t be entirely sure that Paul wasn’t just using them for his own gain. That would be unfair, but George did owe his life to Paul. He glanced down at his bandaged arm as a grim reminder of what... _ could  _ have happened.

He was carrying the wood planks as they got back to the cave. The three of them had decided that if Paul was going to help them find Ringo, he would need something to be carried in that also held water. So they were going to construct a backpack of sorts, with the top open, that Paul could sit in and still be nice and wet. John was getting the rope to tie it together, and George was responsible for the wood to make it. 

No, he didn’t feel bad that he’d stolen it from the  _ Dianthus. _ Paul was the one who had suggested it, anyways, and he had even helped tear planks from below the water. 

They finally got back to the cave. John had already made it back, and he’d gotten rope. He was sitting by the pool, tying it together. George dropped the planks next to him and went back to the shore to see if Paul was still there.

Sure enough, the siren was pulling himself out of the water, shaking his hair out. “Here!” he said brightly. 

George smiled. “Good. I thought you’d run off.”

Paul shook his head. “No, I did not.” he said, seemingly proud of himself. He’d picked up more English over the day, and he was learning surprisingly fast. 

They got back to John, who looked satisfied with the wood. “I think this’ll work.” he said. “And we’ve got enough material so Paul can sit in it comfortably.

“Yep.” George sat down, stretching his arms. The injured one still hurt pretty bad. As Paul began helping John with the carrier, George sunk into deep thought.

How were they even going to find Ringo? There were absolutely no leads except that broken necklace. Paul had tied the ends together and put it on top of his own, but it was still broken and wouldn’t work, since Ringo wasn’t leading it. There’d have to be a careful study of the necklace if they were going to get anywhere.

But Paul seemed optimistic about it, and he knew more about Ringo than the others. So hopefully he could start the search on a good foot. George’s jaws stretched in a yawn and he tried to sit up straight. He wasn’t contributing much to this project. Why was he so tired? With a glance toward the sea he got his answer. It was almost nighttime.

“Why don’t we get some rest before setting off tomorrow?” he suggested, fiddling with a little blade of seagrass.

John shrugged like he was okay with it, but Paul shook his head. “No.” he said firmly. “More fast we go, more fast we find Ringo.”

“I guess you’re right.” George said.

“But we do have to...sleep, Paul.” John laughed awkwardly. “I don’t know if you sirens sleep, but us humans do－”

“We sleep!” Paul said, bitterly offended. “We are not  _ fish. _ ”

George exchanged a glance with John. “Are you, though?”

“Not what I meant.” Paul grumbled.

“Whatever.” John said, standing up. The carrier was finally done, and although it looked a  _ bit  _ flimsy, it would still hold up. “I guess I’ll put ya on my back first.”

“We can take turns.” George said. John put the device in some water from the pool, and then George picked Paul up and deposited him into it. It took Paul a moment to situate, but eventually he got comfortable.

“Good.” he commented shortly. “Much good.”

George nodded in satisfaction. “Alright, so where should we go first, then?” he said. “There’s not really many clues to go off of here.”

Paul’s eyes lit up, and he took in a deep breath to prepare himself for a long strand of words. “Ship...next to yours...eats...sirens.” he explained. “Try...there?”

John glanced at George. “But we just had a  _ battle  _ with them, and it was only yesterday.” he said. “Would that really be smart?”

“Let’s just try.” George said. 

John still looked uneasy about it, but he nodded after a moment. “Fine. Let’s go.” he said begrudgingly. “But if we get in trouble, it’s not my fault.”

“Don’t you have your sword with you?” George asked as they exited the cave. He stared at John’s belt, which did indeed have his good old sword on it.

“Yeah, but it’s me against thirty men on there, and you sure as hell don’t have any weapons on you except your fists.” John snarked, causing Paul’s eyes to grow wide in terror.

They got to the deck again, but instead of stopping at the  _ Dianthus  _ they went on to the neighboring ship. It looked a lot worse in living conditions. There were rats, holes in the walls, and odd stains everywhere. And that was only what they could see through the opening door.

“I’ll go in.” George volunteered. 

“Me too!” Paul said confidently, shoving John’s head down as he emerged from the backpack.

“No, no, no,  _ wait, _ ” Geoge said, holding his hands up. “You’re a siren, remember? This ship is  _ known  _ for killing ‘em?”

“Right.” Paul said, disappointed.

“We’ll stay out here.” John said. “And here, take my sword.” He unhinged it from his belt and handed it to George. “You might need it.”

“Alright.” George sighed as he clutched the sword’s grip. “I’ll try to get at least  _ some  _ information. But you two better be ready to run if they get angry.”

“We will!” Paul called as George stepped onto the plank that led to the entrance. It was a small doorway, and the lights weren’t working very well. He took a deep breath and prayed to whatever god was out there that he’d made it out alive. He turned around and waved goodbye as he headed up the plank.

At first he was met with a little sliver of a hallway. It was entirely empty, which was good, but George was still on guard. He kept looking around in case anyone tried to jump him. He was ready. He would always be ready.

Then he got to a staircase, so he tentatively climbed it, still worried about getting attacked. He creeped up slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible. Then it dawned on him: where was he going to get information about Ringo? 

_ From the cook, idiot,  _ he thought immediately.  _ If they catch and kill sirens to eat, then he must know where they are. _

But where would the kitchen be?

Suddenly he saw a shadow in the corner of his eye. He was nearing the top of the staircase now, so there was bound to be somebody there. He gripped the sword so hard his knuckles turned white and stepped up onto the next floor. The shadow moved again!

“Hello?” he muttered, glancing around warily. 

There was a moment of silence before somebody stepped out from around the corner. It was a woman, with raven-black hair and eyes. She was foreign, but it looked like she was an accepted pirate. George stared at her, keeping his composure. “Do you work for this ship?”

The woman gave him a tiny smile. “Work? Ha!” she said sharply. “I’m one of the most respected pirates here. What do you need? What ship are you from?”

George avoided the second question. “I need to speak to your cook.”

One of the woman’s eyebrows cocked. “Strange. But alright. I’ll take you to him.” she said. “Follow me.”

George awkwardly did as she asked, and they weaved through the hallways, getting increasingly closer to the deck. He hoped nobody else would find them. Suddenly, the woman pushed a door open, and the smell of food filled George’s nose.

“Here he is.” she said, holding the door open for him.

George nodded briefly. “Thanks.”

“Not a problem. I’m Yoko, by the way.”

“Oh. I’m George. See ya around.”

She didn’t reply but stood with him in the kitchen, leaning against the door behind him. There was a fat man standing behind a table there, red-faced and looking like he was having trouble managing all the food he was trying to cook. “Excuse me, sir?” George said tentatively.

The cook glanced up with a scowl. “What?” he growled.

“I have a question to ask.” George said, trying to be at least a little bit polite. He put the sword behind his leg to hide it from the cook. “Do you still...make sirens for meals…?”

The cook, surprisingly, didn’t get angry. “No.” he said. “We had to stop doing that once Yoko came to power.” He stared up at him. “Wait, you’re not from our ship. Why would you want to know that?”

“Because...well...there’s an issue…” George fumbled for words. “It’s just that we need to find this siren for...reasons, and we wanted to know if you might have him.”

The cook shook his head. “Nah, we don’t. There’s only one other place in the world that cooks sirens.” he said. 

George’s head lifted. “Where’s that?”

“It’s off the coast many miles from here. It would be a long journey to get there, but I’ll give you the city’s name.” the cook said. “It’s called Arkville, and it’s off the coast of Skywater Bay.”

_ Skywater Bay?  _ George thought.  _ That’s awfully far. But I guess it’s worth a shot.  _ “Thanks.” he said with a nod. “That’s helpful. I guess we’ll try there”

The cook returned the gesture and George and Yoko left the room. 

“So you’re going to Skywater?” Yoko murmured as they walked down the hallway.

“Yeah.” George answered. “It’s our only option.”

“True. Well, good luck.” Yoko said, her eyes flashing.

“Thanks.” George gave her a thankful nod and the two went seperate ways. 

He was now hopeful they would find Ringo. They had to, if that was the only place that captured sirens. And even though Skywater Bay was a million miles away, that didn’t mean they couldn’t get there somehow. 

George began to run down the stairs he’d come from. He couldn’t wait to tell John and Paul the good news. 

He was close the exit of the ship, still trying to be quiet as to not alert anyone. But he was too  _ excited  _ to stay quiet. Right as that thought came to him, his foot hit a creaky floorboard. And, oh lord, it  _ creaked _ .

“What was that?” George heard a gruff voice from behind him. Cursing himself for being so stupid, he grabbed the sword and glanced around. He saw two pirates, very young pirates (but older than him) emerge from a room, a sword and a knife on each of their belts. When they saw him, they were immediately alert.

“Intruder!” the shorter of the two said loud.

George grabbed his sword and backed up against the wall. He was sorely outnumbered. “Why are you on our ship?” the taller demanded, pressing the sharp edge of his sword into George’s chin. 

“I was just…” George said, attempting to keep calm as he tried to think of an answer. If only John was here. What would John do?

_ Fight these mangy rats. _

George immediately grabbed his sword and pressed it against the taller pirate’s. The man seemed off guard for the moment, but soon he regained himself and they clashed swords. The shorter pirate bolted behind George, his knife out and close to his back. George knew he was outmatched, and he was ready to accept defeat.

“Leave him alone  _ right now _ !”

George’s eyes lifted. Who was that? From what he could see over the pirate’s head, the other man had frizzy, light brown hair and something on his back…

“John!” George said, relieved and energized.

“There’s another?” the taller pirate said, startled. 

John let out a battle cry and raced forward, fists out in fury, Paul gripping his shoulders with his eyes wide. The other pirates didn’t seem to notice Paul, though, and were only focused on fighting John. George whirled around and helped his mate battle the two. He focused on the taller pirate and they clashed swords. George knew plenty of battle skills from John’s tutelage, and he made a good fighter because of it. He easily matched his enemy and eventually managed to grab both of their swords, tossing one to John.

George turned back to the taller pirate, pinning his sword into the man’s chest as he pressed his back into the wall. “Gotcha,” George said with a large grin.

The pirate looked outraged, but didn’t say anything in reply.

Suddenly George heard a shrill cry from behind. “ _ Paul _ !”

Alarmed, he turned around to a dire scene. The shorter pirate had John cornered, and Paul had fallen out onto the floor. He couldn’t get away, and he was an easy target for the shorter pirate. 

Without hesitation, George sped forward and grabbed Paul off the ground. He sprinted down the hallway to the exit of the ship. “I’m going to put you in the water,” he said to the terrified siren. “Wait for us!”

“Yes,” Paul said. George grabbed the doorway to the exit of the ship, and with a giant lunge, threw Paul into the ocean. There was a tremendous  _ splash  _ and he was gone under the dark, moon-lit water.

George watched him for a split second, trying to catch his breath. He whirled around to go help John, but instead he saw his friend running down the hallway, another sword in his hand. “Go! Go!” he called.

George ran down the plank, John behind him. “Jump into the ocean.” John said, pointing at the water. “They’re following us.”

“But－”

“ _ Jump in _ !”

George turned toward the water, and taking in a massive breath, leaped in. 

The water was cold at first, and he couldn’t see a thing. He felt a splash next to him, and hopefully it was John. He felt around for him but didn’t feel anything in the water. Panic spread across his body, and he fought towards the surface for air.

He could see that he had landed under the plank. The pirates from the other ship were looking around furiously, but they didn’t see George. They muttered some things to each other and then went back in their ship. George sighed with relief and sunk back under the water to see if he could find anybody, but it was still pitch-black.

Suddenly, he felt a hand slip into his, and it began tugging him fast. He knew John couldn’t swim that fast, so it only had to be Paul. He closed his eyes in relief. 

They finally got to a distant shore, and George stumbled onto it, taking in deep breaths of air. He saw Paul’s head emerge from the water. “Thanks,” he panted, still trying to breathe.

“Welcome.” Paul shrugged. “Going to get John.”

“Okay.” George nodded. With a flick of his blue tail, Paul disappeared under the water again. George sat down on the warm sand, taking in his surroundings. 

Paul had pulled him far away from the docks. The ships were just little black specks now. There was just ocean ahead of him, and more sandy shores to the left. He suddenly heard a splash, and Paul was pulling John up to the shore. He looked...asleep?

“What happened to John?” George asked, standing up as Paul crouched worriedly over John. “Did he hurt himself?”

“I don’t know.” Paul said, his voice shaky. “When I got to him, he was just floating…”

“Is he  _ alive _ ?” George said, grabbing John’s arm. He could feel a pretty steady pulse, and that made him a bit less nervous. He looked around for reasons that John might have gotten hurt, and his eyes landed on a massive gash on the side of his head. “How did that happen?”

Paul shrugged again. “Did pirates hurt him?” he wondered.

“Probably.” George said. “Either that, or he hit his head on something on the way down.”

“What could he hit?” Paul said.

“I don’t know. But we need some way to stop the bleeding.” George said. “Too bad we don’t have any bandages…”

“We can use...one of your…” Paul trailed off, trying to think of a word. He pointed up to the orange cloth around George’s head. The one around his waist had been used to wrap George’s arm up. “Those.”

“Oh, yeah.” George said, untying it from his head. He sat down beside John, trying to clean off the blood. He most of it and resumed to tying the cloth around John’s head. He got a good knot and then let it rest.

“Well...what to do now?” Paul said, his tail spraying up water.

“I don’t know.” George said. “There’s not really a place to rest.”

“Can we here?” Paul asked, and then shook his head. “I forgot. Humans not sleep in water.”

“Yeah.” George said. “You can, though. I’d advise ya to get some rest. I’ll keep look out up here.”

“I thought you tired?” Paul said, concerned.

“It’s okay.” George assured him with a wave of his hand. 

Paul watched him for a bit longer before disappearing under the water’s surface. George sighed, resting his head on his fists. He  _ was  _ tired, but he wanted to watch out anyway. Maybe he could just close his eyes, but he would still...listen...


	11. Chapter 11

Paul  slowly blinked his eyes open, pulling himself from the warmth of sleep. He shifted a bit in the patch of seaweed he’d been resting in, stretching his arms and his tail. He stared up at the sky through the water. It was a deep blue, which meant he probably had slept for too long.

He stretched once more and then approached the shore, dragging himself onto the sand. He saw George and John, both still asleep, looking mostly unharmed on the sand.  _ Thank goodness,  _ he thought.  _ I hoped nothing had happened to them. _

Paul sighed and put his head on his arms. The sun on his back and the sound of the waves was comforting. At least he didn’t have to do any talking at the moment. Sure, he liked being with John and George, but communicating with them was awfully difficult.

He wished he had Ringo. 

_ No, no,  _ he thought, shaking his head.  _ I can’t think like that. We’re going to find Ringo, that’s the whole purpose of this. And I’m going to help them. Just as soon as we get the information that George heard. _

Right as that thought escaped him, John’s eyes flew open and he sat up in a flash. “Ouch.” he suddenly hissed, wincing. 

Paul lifted his head and dragged himself over. “You alright?” he asked, staring up at John’s injury. There was a bit of sand in it, and he brushed it away. “You hurt?”

John shook his head, waving Paul away. “Oh, god...what the hell happened?” he said, pressing his hand against his makeshift bandage. “It feels like I was burned up there or something.”

“We hoped... _ you  _ could tell.” Paul said, hoping those were the right words. “You were...not awake...when I found you.”

John seemed to understand, but he let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t remember,” he said. “Just jumping in the water and then...dark…”

“Must have hit your head.” Paul told him. “George fixed it.”

John glanced over at George, who was beginning to wake up. Paul went over to him, watching his hazel eyes flit open. He stared at Paul for a moment, trying to register the world around him before letting out a gigantic yawn. “Sorry,” he said after it was done. “I was supposed to keep lookout, wasn’t I?”

Paul moved past that. “What say the cook?”

George’s eyes lit up. “Oh yeah. I forgot to tell ya, didn’t I?”

“Well, you didn’t have much time.” John muttered. 

“The cook said that the only other place where they eat sirens is in Arville, off the coast of Skywater Bay.” George said. “And I know it’s far, but we can get there.”

Paul’s heart was about to leap with joy. A massive grin spread across his face. “Good!” he said, wishing there was a better word to communicate happiness. They had a clue! Ringo  _ had  _ to be there! They were the only people who would try and catch him! They had to go quick! He tugged on George’s hand. “Let’s go!”

“Wait, wait.” George said. “I know you’re excited, but we have to think about this first. How are we going to get there?”

“Train?” John suggested. 

“We don’t have any money for tickets.” George answered.

“Swim?” Paul suggested.  _ Wait, they couldn’t swim that far. Curse my horrible English!  _ “I mean...boat?”

“What boat would we use?” John responded.

Paul sighed, and that led into a couple minutes of hard thinking. “I guess the only way to get there is...by  _ foot _ .” George said, grimacing even at the thought of walking. “Ugh.”

“Well, at least we still have the thing to carry Paul.” John said. Paul followed his gaze. It was a bit down shore, probably having fallen off John and washed up on the beach, but it was still there. “It couldn’t be  _ that  _ hard.”

“I guess. But do we even know the way?” George.

“We can probably figure it out somehow.” John said. “C’mon. The sooner we get going, the better.”

Paul couldn’t wait, and he threw up the back of his tail. “Let’s go!” he said again, this time loads more thrilled. They were actually starting to go now. He slipped into the water to grab the carrier. It had been mostly unharmed except for a bit of looseness in the rope. Paul tied it tight and pulled it back over to the others.

“I’ll carry you now.” George volunteered. “Since John’s head is hurt.” He put the carrier on his shoulders. 

“It’s not going to be a hindrance.” John insisted, scooping Paul onto George’s shoulders. It took a minute of trying to get comfortable before Paul finally settled. “I’ve gotten hurt before, ya know.”

“Well, it’s your head, so it’s more important,” George said.

“Which way do we start?” Paul asked, peeking over George’s shoulder. “Do we go down shore?”

“Uhh, well…” John muttered. “Skywater Bay is south, and we’re facing south, so...I guess.”

“We don’t have any other choice.” George huffed a laugh. “But at least there’s plenty of ocean for Paul if he wants to take a swim.”

“Oh, not yet.” Paul said with a smile. “I’m tired.”

So the three set off down the shore, doing their best to navigate the way and hoping their information was right. Paul couldn’t contain his happiness for a clue to Ringo. If he was still alive, maybe they would be reunited after all.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments! I really appreciate them! 🍋

John stared up at the pale blue sky, squinting as the sun made his eyes sting. His head was _pounding,_ and even though he wasn’t going to say anything about it, he was getting a bit frustrated with it. He gazed back down at the shady ground, hoping a bit less light would make it stop hurting quite as bad.

He glanced over his shoulder. George and Paul were talking about something or other, looking deeply invested in their conversation, so he didn’t want to intrude. Besides, he was supposed to be navigating here, since he actually remembered where Skywater Bay was. But they’d been walking for so long, and all he wanted to do was stop and rest. They’d hardly made any progress anyway.  _ Why can’t we just take the train _ ? he thought for around the forty-fourth time today.

He couldn’t help but wish that he was a siren, and he could just swim to the bay. Paul was so lucky; he’d probably get there in a day and a half at the rate he could swim. However, good old Paul refused to go ahead of them, so they had stopped pushing it.

It was getting hot too. Like, unbearably. John sighed and turned around. “Can we stop for a while?” he asked, trying not to sound angry but also trying to get his point across.

“Yeah.” George, thankfully, agreed. “I’m exhausted.”

John nodded, closing his eyes and rubbing his head.  _ Ouch.  _ At least there were some trees a little bit away. He made a beeline to them and sat under the shade, never more grateful to trees than at this moment.

George sat down too, and Paul weaved himself out of the carrier, stretching himself out on the sand. “Wow,” he said, closing his eyes and putting his head on his hands. “Poor humans. Have to walk while we can just swim.”

“Yeah.” John said. “Are you sure you don’t want t－”

Paul’s eyes flew open and he gave John the most cold stare he had ever seen. “No.” he said firmly. “I’m not leaving you. Besides, you already came with. You helped me. Stupid to go back now.”

“True.” George said, leaning his head back on a tree. “Well, I’m hungry. Too bad there’s nothing to eat around here.”

Paul’s eyes flashed. “There is fish.” he said. “If prepared right, it is good.” His tail flicked. “I can catch.”

John grinned. “Wait, really?”

“Yes. Stay here.” He dragged himself down shore and disappeared under the water.

“Wow. We’re set for food then,” George said. “I just hope this fish is at least a little bit tasty. Are siren taste buds different from humans’?”

“I dunno…” John said, closing his eyes, weary from walking so far.

The two of them sat in the shade, enjoying the breeze that blew through and the cool feeling of...not being out in the sun. 

“Got one!” 

John opened his eyes to see Paul holding up a massive silver fish, a giant grin on his face as he made his way over to them. “It’s a good fish.” he explained as he set it in front of them. John watched in curiosity as Paul tore off the tail and just began eating it raw!

He was chewing for a moment before he noticed the pirates hadn’t taken a single bite. “Go on.” he encouraged them. “It’s great. You’ll like it plenty.”

George awkwardly laughed and looked at John. “Uhh, Paul...we don’t really...eat fish straight out of the ocean. It’s...bad for us. We can get sick.” he explained.

Paul looked confused. “Then how do you eat it?”

“Well...I dunno.” George said. “We have to get the blood out, and take off the scales, remove all the eyes and insides and stuff, and...cook it.”

Paul went from lost to extremely apologetic. “I’m sorry.” he said. “I didn’t know. I can do it for you!” He picked up the fish, but John stopped him.

“No, no, it’s fine.  _ We’ll  _ do it.” he said. 

“Are you sure?” Paul said, still very remorseful.

“Yes.” John nodded slowly. “I know how to do it.”

Paul hesitated before handing the fish over. “If you need any help, I can.” he said. “I’m sorry for...I didn’t know you…”

“It’s  _ okay _ .” John assured him, tossing the fish to George. “We’re not mad. You’re an entirely different species than us, of course you would eat it differently.”

“Not really.” Paul said. “We’re the same tail-up.”

“Yeah, but…” John trailed off. “We have different ways of thinking.”

“We do?” Paul said with a tilt of his head.

“Yeah. Like, you didn’t know English very well before you met us because your brain didn’t recognize it.” John told him. “And you didn’t think to prepare the fish differently because your brain has always eaten it like that.”

Paul nodded slowly. “Oh,” he said softly. “Makes sense.”

“It’s not your fault.” John assured him.

“I know.” Paul said. “But I can’t help feeling it.”

John gave him a tilted smile. He knew Paul wasn’t thinking about the fish anymore, and something completely different. Having a feeling Paul wanted to be left alone, he stood up and went over to George, who was trying to start a fire.

“Paul feels bad.” John murmured, sitting back down and easily starting a fire with two sticks, much to George’s annoyance. “Not about the fish.”

“About Ringo?” George prompted. “It’s not his fau－”

“I know.” John said. “But he still thinks it is.”

George stared up at Paul, sympathy in his brown eyes. “I can see why.” he said. “If you suddenly disappeared one day, I’d feel awful.”

John nodded, watching as George began to roast the fish over the fire. It was uncomfortably warm, and he scooted away from it. “Well, I really hope we find ‘im, anyway. If we didn’t...who knows how Paul would feel?”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Ritchie...

Ringo  stared in horror at the man standing over him. He hadn’t expected to get caught so soon after he left that awful cage. But he wasn’t going to let himself be shoved back into it again.

The man suddenly grabbed him by his hair, easily lifting him up. “Let go of me!” Ringo growled, trying to reach the man’s arms, but to no avail. “Let  _ go _ !”

“Feisty thing, aren’t ya?” the man said, a nasty grin spreading across his face. Ringo’s head, as if it already wasn’t in pain before, now felt like it was on fire. “Well, let’s get ya back in that cage of yours.”

“No!” Ringo said desperately. An unusual but powerful wave of strength washed over him, and two of his tentacles grabbed the man’s legs, hooking around them. Startled, Ringo’s captor let go as the siren launched himself into the man’s face, shoving his hands into his eyes and then trying to get away as fast as he could. His attack had bought him a little time!

He turned down the smaller pathway to see a narrow staircase. Taking his chances, he began to speed down it, eyes wide and heart pounding. He could hear the man’s slow and pained footsteps not far behind, which fueled him even more. 

Ringo took a lightning-fast glance over his shoulder. The man was just turning around the corner, still trying to open his eyes properly. Ringo moved across the ground faster than he ever had before, trying his best not to slip on the hard tile floors. 

As he bolted through this new, wider hallway, he saw a door that was barely cracked. Hoping it was some kind of dark, small room, Ringo pushed it open wider and then shut it behind him, his chest heaving as he closed his eyes. He could see through the peephole that the man had run way past the door.

“Thank goodness.” he said, relief overtaking him. “I didn’t think I was getting out of there…” He reached up to rub his aching head and turned around to see the rest of the room he was in.

It looked like some kind of sitting room, with a big window and two chairs facing it. Ringo wondered if there was a door out in here, and he made himself keep going to look. Unfortunately, he didn’t see one. Exhausted, he curled up into one of the red chairs and closed his eyes, arms crossed under him.

“Um. Excuse me?”

Alarm, panic and terror filled Ringo up once more, and, shivering, he looked over his shoulder. In the second chair there was a girl reading some worn blue book. She was not super old but not a child either. She had pretty blond hair and questioning, light brown eyes. 

“You’re one of my father’s sirens, aren’t you?” she said, setting the book down and reaching out for him. Petrified, Ringo flinched away, too tired to fight her. “Don’t  _ worry,  _ I’m not going to hurt you.”

Ringo watched as she ran her finger over one of his tentacles, seemingly admiring something about it. “You’re a handsome one!” she commented, and then sighed. “I don’t see why all Dad wants to do is sell you sirens to those  _ cooks _ . It seems...inhumane.”

Ringo nodded feebly. It  _ was  _ inhumane!

“Well, I guess I should go return you to him.” she said. “He’ll  _ kill  _ me when he realizes I’ve been with you.”

Ringo’s eyes grew wide. “No!” he said, knowing full-well she wouldn’t understand him. “No, please no...I can’t go back there…”

The woman seemed startled. “I don’t know what you’re saying to me.” she told him. “But...I have to. I have no choice but to give you back to him…”

Ringo knew talking wasn’t going to be of any use, so he tried to convey his exasperation through rapid shaking of his head. “God,  _ please  _ don’t.” he said. “Please?”

She took a glance at the door and back at him. “Well, I guess I  _ could  _ release you...maybe.” she said. “But I don’t know where you came from.”

“You could!” Ringo said joyfully. He thought that maybe he could introduce himself, and at least that would get something done. He grabbed her hand (which made her flinch) and pointed to himself. “Ringo.” he said with slow nods. “I’m Ringo.”

She stared at him, confused, until her eyes lit up. “Your name is Ringo?”

“Yes! Yes!” Ringo said with a smile.

“Oh, that’s so interesting.” she said. “I’m...I’m Cynthia.”

“Cynthia.” Ringo repeated. 

“Well, Ringo,” Cynthia said. “Would you mind if I...picked you up? Then we could get outside, if Dad isn’t in the hallway.”

Ringo shook his head, and so Cynthia awkwardly grabbed him. He was a full-grown siren, and almost as big as her with his tentacles extended all the way. He grabbed onto her as hard as he could, leaving some of his yellow tentacles dragging on the ground. Cynthia gently opened the door, and the two looked around.

The hallway was silent.

“Let’s go.” Cynthia whispered. She shut the door quietly behind her and began walking as fast as she could down the hallway. Ringo was terrified someone would find them, and he kept a wary eye out.

They got to the end of the hall, and Cynthia opened another door, this one leading outside. It was small, though, and Ringo could have never fit through it in time. He silently thanked himself for going into the room with Cynthia.

They got outside, and there was a stretch of woods, except most of the trees were palms. That must mean...they were close to a ocean or sea or  _ something _ . Cynthia dropped Ringo on the ground, and he sped up ahead.

But after a few moments he realized she wasn’t behind him.

“Come on!” he called, motioning for her to follow. She glanced back at her house and then began to tentatively walk behind him.

“Well, do you live here, then?” she asked.

Ringo shrugged. He wouldn’t know where they were until he saw the water. But he  _ hoped  _ it was his ocean. Paul would be there, and they would be reunited. They would leave this ocean and make a new life somewhere else, where there weren’t any humans. His heart swelled with happiness at the thought of Paul. And he was so close to the water. As his tentacles began touching sand, he knew they were getting close. The trees became thinner and farther between until…

He saw it.

There was a wide, round bay, the water a clear blue, like the sky. The sand was pure white. Ringo was overjoyed to see water, but...this wasn’t where he lived. His shoulders drooped and he sighed deeply. He’d gotten his hopes up…

Cynthia put her hand on his shoulder. “This isn’t it?”

He shook his head slowly, feeling hot tears come to his eyes. Why did he let himself get so excited? He sniffed and wiped his face with his hands. He felt so stupid. Now what was there to do? He didn’t even know where he was...he didn’t know where  _ Paul  _ was. He couldn’t help it and started to let out quiet sobs. 

Cynthia noticed, and sadness filled her gaze. “No,” she said softly, crouching down holding his head to hers. “You can’t give up now. You have to find your home.”

“I can’t,” Ringo cried. “I don’t know where it is…”

Cynthia stared at him, trying to read something in his expression. She bit her lip for a moment and stood up. “I’ll...I’ll help you.” she said firmly. “I’ll help you get back to where you came from. I know I can’t understand you, but...we can communicate some other way.”

Ringo glanced up at her, wiping his eyes so he could see her better. “Really?” he sniffed. “I…thank you…” In a moment of pure joy and gratefulness, he pulled her into a hug. More tears rolled down his face, this time for a different reason. He was going to find Paul now, and most importantly, he had a  _ human  _ on his side to help him!


	14. Chapter 14

George  held the torch out farther as more nighttime darkness seeped over the beach. White stars dotted the black sky, but they didn’t shed enough light for them to walk by. 

George leaned on John’s shoulder, half-asleep at this point. At least he wasn’t carrying Paul anymore, who had finally opted to swim to get to load off of his shoulders. Every so often the siren’s head popped up to make sure he hadn’t gone too far, but otherwise any hint of him still being there was the glow of his blue scales.

“Can we stop?” John said, glancing over at George, his eyes glazed and obviously extremely tired.

“Gladly,” George said. “How far have we even walked today?”

“I don’t know,” John shrugged. “But we’re making progress.”

“Well, where do we sleep then? Out in the open?”

John blinked a couple times. “Yeah.”

So they walked a bit farther (which meant about three steps) before both sitting down and letting out a massive yawn in unison. “Do ya think we should tell Paul we stopped?” George said.

John’s head popped up. “Duh.”

George stood up. “Paul!” he called. “Paul!”

About a yard ahead, Paul came to the surface. “Yeah?”

“We’re stopping.”

“Oh…” Paul said, going under and coming back to them. “Already?”

“Uhh...yeah.” George said. “If you haven’t noticed, it’s nighttime.”

Paul nodded slowly. “Oh, yeah. Forgot humans can’t see in dark.”

“We can  _ see  _ in the dark.” George said. “Just not very well.”

“Hungry?” Paul asked as he moved onto the shore. 

“Starving,” John answered. 

“I can catch fish,” Paul volunteered. “I’ll make sure to make it better for you…”

“Here,” George said, “get one fish for yourself and one for us. So you can eat it raw and not gross like we do.”

Paul looked offended. “Your way of eating is not gross.”

“Well, to you it must be.”

“Yes, but…” Paul trailed off and then disappeared under the water.

George sat next to John, who was full out laid down in the sand. “He’s a strange creature, isn’t he?” he said, resting his head on his fists. “Ever thought you’d be friends with a siren, Johnny?”

John shook his head. “Never.”

“Ugh,” George said. “I just hope Ringo is in Skywater Bay. I never want to see Paul so distraught if he isn’t there.”

“Me either.” John said, furrowing his brow. “But if he isn’t there, I’m gonna find him. I’ll never stop until we find Ringo, dead or alive.”

“Wow, that’s commitment, ain’t it?” George joked.

John swatted at his face. “Shut up.”

Paul came out of the water with two fish and they began cooking it over a fire. Paul watched them, his eyes glowing in the firelight. “You humans aren’t...as bad as I thought.” he said. “Well, at least you two aren’t.”

“Not every human is the same.” John said. “Sometimes people are real evil and nasty, and sometimes people are kind and welcoming. And sometimes they’re in the middle of that, usually. Kind of like sirens.”

Paul nodded slowly, understanding. “Yeah.” he said. “Makes sense.”

“Now ya get it,” George said. “And now, I’m tired.”

They finished their supper and laid out on the white sand. George gazed up at the sky, hoping tomorrow would be a better day.

  
  


Brain sat in his quarters, staring at the hard wood floors in a pensive state of mind. He was confused and angry. His best two pirates, George and John, had up and disappeared from the ship. And now he didn’t know where on earth they could be. 

First George had gone, during the battle. And then John had left after he’d gotten hurt. Brain didn’t know if they were dead, on the other ship, or they’d run away from the  _ Dianthus.  _ And if they had done the latter, he wanted them back  _ now. _

It was late at night now, and it had begun to rain. Lightning streaked across the sky and thunder rumbled in the dark gray clouds, loud and bothersome. The ship was reeling and rocking, but at least every crewmate was asleep. Well, except Brian.

Maybe John and George would come back tonight. If they were out in the open, they wouldn’t dare sit in this storm. It was far too dangerous.

Suddenly, the door creaked open. Brian’s head snapped up to see who was coming in. Instead of one of the pirates, it was a woman. She stared at him in silence as she shut the door behind her. Her hair was long, wavy and black, and her eyes narrowed and dark. She looked like she knew something he didn’t.

“Who are you?” Brian said gruffly, standing up. “What are you doing on my ship?”

“Do not overreact,” the woman said. “I am Yoko. I come from the ship across from you. Remember, we battled?”

Brain stared at her angrily. How bold was she to bring up the battle. “What do you want?” he asked, pressing his palms into his desk.

“I know where your missing pirates are.”

“You do?” Brian said, caught off-guard by her statement. “How?”

“George came to our ship two days ago. He wanted to know something about Skywater Bay. And he told me he was going there.” Yoko said.

Brian’s heart skipped a beat. Was he really to trust this woman? “You’re not lying?” he said. “You’d better not be.”

Yoko closed her eyes and shook her head. “I am not.”

Brain sat back down. “We must go there, then.” he said, more to himself than Yoko. “But I haven’t been to Skywater Bay in ages. I don’t know if I still know the way.”

“I will lead you, if you’d like.” Yoko offered. 

Brain gazed at her, trying to read her expression. But it was blank, and she looked trustworthy. “Fine.” Brain said. “You can help us there. But if you’re lying…”

“I’m not,” Yoko told him again. “If we are to be allies you must not be so suspicious of me.”

Brain huffed. “I’m a pirate, dear. I’m suspicious of  _ everybody _ .”

Yoko came over to his desk. “We shall set sail in the morning.” she said confidently. Brain normally would have demanded what gave her the right to take control over him like that, but he was too tired to start an argument. 

“Right.” he said, staring out the small window. “We’ll set sail tomorrow and get John and George.” He narrowed his eyes. “I want my pirates back.”


	15. Chapter 15

Paul  bolted through the water quickly, hardly even having to move his tail to propel himself forward. He could see John and George’s feet as they made their way behind him.  _ If only they had tails,  _ thought Paul.  _ Then we’d get to Skywater Bay faster. _

He took in a deep breath and slowed down, just enough for them to catch up. He was  _ trying  _ to be at least a little patient with them, but it was so hard. He just wanted to get to Ringo  _ so  _ badly. It was very difficult to stand it.

But Paul couldn’t leave John or George. They had left their ship and everything they knew to help him with something they weren’t even a part of. He owed a bunch to them now, and he couldn’t just go ahead, no matter how bad he wanted it. 

Besides, having a human to help you was the ultimate success. Paul felt like humans could do anything, and everything that he couldn’t. In the water he was unstoppable but on land he was just a flopping fish. It made him feel bad, but it was the truth.

Paul blinked a couple times, pulling himself out of his thoughts to see a massive brown stake right in front of him, throwing up bubbles and sand. 

“Hey!” Paul growled, jerking back. “What the hell…”

He glanced up above the water. John and George were arguing with a group of burly men who had a bunch of nets and spears. They looked a bit intimidating, and Paul didn’t want to face them. He barely put his head out of the water to hear what was going on.

“Well, you can’t just hunt for our friend.” John was saying. “Sure, fish is fine, but you have to look out for certain creatures.”

“Sirens and fish are essentially the same thing.” the biggest man, who was probably the leader of the group, answered in a snarl. “And besides, do you know how much they sell for? We’d be set for life if we caught one.”

Paul’s eyes widened.  _ Uh-oh. Hunters. _

“Well, this one is ours.” George said. “We...we already caught him.”

_ Huh?  _ Paul said, glancing up. He was completely straight-faced.  _ What is he on about? _

“Then why isn’t he in a net?” one of the humans asked. “Why is he just swimming out in the open? Is this your first catch or something?”

“He’s…” George took a swift glance at John, who looked just as confused. “ _ branded  _ to us. We caught him, and he’s ours. Right, John?”

It took about half a second for John to catch on. “Yep.” he said with a slow nod. “He’s completely right.”

Paul didn’t know what they were doing, and his mind was racing trying to figure it out. John and George didn’t catch him, and he wasn’t branded at all. He looked around himself just to make sure. Yeah, he wasn’t.  _ What…? _

“Well, lemme see the brand then.” the leader said, nodding towards Paul. George took a moment before stepping forward and grabbing Paul by the tail. 

He muttered, “Just go along with it,” before scooping Paul up out of the water. George pointed at the long scar on Paul’s tail. “See. There it is, clear as day. Get off our case now, will ya?”

The leader looked unconvinced. “That scar looks old.”

“It’s not,” George protested. “We just put it on.”

Paul finally figured it out right at that moment. John and George were pretending to be fellow hunters who had caught him! Obviously! Well, maybe he should try and be a better actor. With a yell of mock anger, he reared up and lashed out at George, making sure not to hurt him. The pirate reeled back and dropped Paul into the water.

“You’re being pretty leniant with it,” the leader said. “Are you new at this or somethin’?”

“No,” John said firmly. “Now let us pass ya, or else we’ll fight for it.”

“Fine, fine.” the leader stepped back. “Just lettin’ you know, you’re heading into a city that’s in high demand for those sirens.”

_ Really?  _ Paul thought. 

“Where’s that?” George said.

“Arville.” the leader replied menacingly before John and George moved on.

Paul’s heart was practically on the brim of exploding at this point. They were in Arville! Arville was on Skywater Bay! And Skywater Bay was where Ringo was! He spun around in the water, throwing his arms up. They had made it!


	16. Chapter 16

Ringo  peeked out from under Cynthia’s cloak, her blue eyes big as he took in his surroundings. They were in Arville now, going to the library for a map of the seas and oceans close to them. Ringo had wanted to come badly, so now he was fastened around Cynthia’s waste, his tentacles holding on for dear life.

At least he knew a bit of English now. He’d picked up some from Cynthia’s dialogue, but it wasn’t a lot. He knew ‘hello’ and ‘yes’ and ‘no’, which were proving to be the most used words in the language. It was very strange, and he had a feeling he’d never get the hang of it properly.

But he couldn’t care less about English anyway. He was going back to see Paul now, and that was all that mattered. And Cynthia...well...she was going to help him. That was the cherry on top of all this. She was showing up to be a great friend to him.

They got to a big, tall desk where a woman said, peering at them from over her semi-circle glasses. “How can I help you?” she said, glancing down at Cynthia’s waste. Terrified, Ringo moved his head back into the dark. 

“Where are the map books?” Cynthia asked politely.

“Aisle 14.” the woman replied, sounding bored.

“Thanks,” Cynthia replied. She began to walk away to somewhere, and it got quieter as it got darker. “Okay, Ringo. We’re in the aisle now. It’s empty, so you can come out.”

Ringo peeked out from under her cloak. In front of him was a big shelf full of thick, dusty books. “Which one to choose now?” Cynthia said thoughtfully. “Well, let’s try  _ Oceans and Seas around Arville and their Inhabitants. _ ” She took out a book from the shelf and sat down, Ringo slithering out of her cloak and into the open air. It was dark here, and he didn’t see a single person.

Cynthia flipped through the book slowly. “Well, you don’t know where you come from.” she said. “So maybe we can tell by where the book describes you as.” She flipped through a few more pages. “Ah, yes. Page 112 is all about sirens in the area.”

Ringo smiled. “Good,” he said, peering over her shoulder. He couldn’t read anything, but he saw the pictures. They were small and frankly not very good, but Cynthia seemed to understand the words under them.

“Well, let’s see,” she said. “It says that sirens with eight tentacles usually come from the north. And you have eight tentacles.”

Ringo glanced down at them. “Yes,” he said with a shrug. 

“It also says”－Cynthia shifted a bit－ “that brighter colored-tentacles only come from a place called Sapphire Ocean. So...that might be you!”

“Sapphire Ocean?” Ringo repeated. “Might be.”

“Yeah,” Cynthia beamed. “So we just have to get to Sapphire Ocean now. That seems easy. It can’t be far...let’s look at the map.” She flipped to the back of the book and pointed to a little divet in the land not far from Skywater Bay. “Here it is.”

“Yes.” Ringo said with a smile. “Not far.”

“Not far at all!” Cynthia said. “Less than a day’s train ride.”

“Less than a day?” Ringo’s eyebrows went up. “Not far at all!”

Cynthia smiled and shut the book. “Well, let’s try there, then.” She stood up, opening her cloak for Ringo to slip back in. “That didn’t take too long. We can by train tickets now!”

“Can we?” Ringo whispered, excitement filling him up like water in a shell. He could hardly keep quiet as they left the library and hurried back outside. The warm breeze had never felt so good.

“Let’s go to the train station right now.” Cynthia murmured. Ringo nodded, knowing she couldn’t see him but still wanting to respond. They stepped into a cold building, and Ringo shivered, holding on tighter to Cynthia. 

She heard her and a man exchange a few words. Cynthia thanked him and took a little slip of paper from him. “Well, I got my ticket.” she said as they opened the door back outside. “The train leaves in the morning tomorrow, isn’t that great?”

“Mhm.” hummed Ringo quietly. 

They left town quickly and eventually got to the bay again. Cynthia sat down, taking off her cloak and letting him sink into the water near the shore. He could just imagine swimming to Paul tomorrow, and they’d see each other again! He folded his arms around himself with a smile wider than any grin he’d made before.

The rest of the day passed way too slow. Ringo could hardly bear it, and he just wanted the night to pass. But at least he had Cynthia for company. She told the best stories, and even gave him a piece of  _ cake  _ from her father’s house. Cake was probably the best thing he had ever consumed and he wished he had more of it. 

During the night, Cynthia returned to the house after a long goodbye to Ringo. He sunk into the water again, looking up at the dark sky. Next time tomorrow he’d be looking at the same sky with Paul, and everything would be okay again. He closed his eyes and drifted off into the best sleep he’d ever had.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh....

John ’s  jaws gaped in a massive yawn as they reached Arville that midnight. He was carrying Paul on his shoulders, but they’d had to cover up the carrier with a blanket to not rouse any suspicion. They were trying to find an inn to stay in, and though Paul hadn’t argued with them about rest, John knew he wanted to continue to the bay and see Ringo.

“Here’s one.” George said, pointing toward a homely-looking building in the town square. “D’ya think they’re open?”

John blinked. “Yeah. Their lights are on, ain’t they?”

George rolled his eyes and pushed the door open. Immediately a wave of cool air hit John’s face, and he sighed in relief. At the front desk there was a tired-looking young boy, his eyes-half open until he saw them come in. “Oh, hello,” he said. “Welcome to...the Arville Inn.”

“Are ya open, son?” John asked, hoping to get the greetings out of the way. 

“Yeah...we have a couple rooms left.” the boy said. “I can take you to one if you’d like.” He took the latern up off the desk and got a key out of a drawer. “Do you want one?”

“Yes,  _ please _ .” George said, a bit exasperated from all the questions.

John felt Paul shift a bit as they weaved down the dark hallways and tight staircases to a room in the back. The boy opened the door and gave George the lantern. “Here ya are.” he said. “Have a good night.”

“You too.” George called over his shoulder as he shut the door behind him. Almost immediately, Paul pushed the blanket off of him and took a deep breath of air in.

“Wow, very hard to breathe in there.” he said.

“Yeah, I could imagine so.” John replied. “I’m pretty sure there’s a bathtub in here we could put you in.” He opened another, smaller door to a tiny bathroom, and pulled the chain so the light would turn on. “Yep, there’s one.”

Paul looked on the bathtub in all its small, round, wooden glory. “Very little,” he said pitifully. “Is that all there is?”

“Yep,” John said. “Unless you wanna go in the sink.”

Paul’s eyes grew even wider. “The bathtub will be fine!”

So John crouched down to turn on the water. The faucet creaked and groaned before shooting out a massive spurt of icy cold water. “Ew, no,” John said with a grimace. He turned it up hotter and thankfully, warmer water began to spit out. 

When it was all the way full, Paul slipped in with a comfortable sigh. “I guess this will do instead of the ocean for now.” he said. “Thank you, John.”

“No problem, Paul.” John said. “Do you want the light on?”

“Uh, no thanks.” Paul said, so John turned them off and pulled the door almost-closed.

George was already fast asleep when he got back out into the bedroom. He kicked off his boots and laid back into the second bed, overjoyed to have somewhere decent to sleep again. He wouldn’t take pillows or sheets or mattresses for granted anymore. He closed his eyes and drifted off quickly.

It hardly felt like a second before he woke up to a loud pounding on the door. “Open up!” someone was growling from the outside. “Right now!”

John sat up, rubbing his eyes as George shifted awake. “What the hell?” he said, getting out of bed. He felt something warm and wet around his knees and looked down to see  _ water. _ “Uhh...Geo?”

George looked down at the ground too. “What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know.” John said. “It must be Paul...”

“ _ Open up _ !” another yell came, louder and angrier.

“Coming!” John said, irritated. He noticed water streaming in from the bathroom, and opened the door wider. Paul was floating comfortably in it, his eyes shut and tail flicking in a dream. “Paul, wake up!”

The siren grunted and stretched, opening his eyes. “Yes?” He suddenly realized he wasn’t in the bath and looked around. “Oh, dear.”

“What did you do?” John demanded. 

“I just...turned the faucet up more..and I guess I left it...on too long.” Paul said, struggling to communicate in his panic. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I just…”

John closed his eyes.  _ He didn’t know, he didn’t know, he didn’t know... _ he repeated, trying to convince himself. He saw George moving past him to open the door. “Just...be quiet.” he whispered, shutting the bathroom door.

He whirled around to see a crowd of angry hotel-visitors, and the boy in front of them. “There’s  _ torrents  _ of water coming from this floor!” he said. “Why on  _ earth  _ is there so much water in here?”

John watched as more of it streamed out into the hallway. The other visitors yelped and moved back, but it still went on. “We accidentally left the faucet on.” John rushed to say. “And we didn’t realize until we woke up.”

“How do you  _ accidentally  _ leave the faucet on?” a huge man in the back said. John gulped as he recognized him. It was the hunter from earlier that day! He was pushing his way through the group and forced himself into the room. “Do you need me to  _ show you  _ how to turn it off?”

George panicked and reached out to stop him from going into the bathroom. “No, wait－”

But the hunter pushed open the door anyway, pulled the chain, and everybody saw the siren (who was extremely  _ rare  _ and  _ hunted  _ in Arville) Paul. There was a collective gasp from everybody outside the room.

“That pesky siren of yours!” the hunter exclaimed. He grabbed Paul by the tail and shook him hard. “He isn’t your  _ catch.  _ You’re trying to hide ‘im!”

“Put him down.” John said, stepping forward, only to realize the hunter was about three heads taller than him. “He’s ours.”

“Not anymore.” the hunter growled, and Paul’s eyes grew wide. “Sirens aren’t  _ pets. _ I’m takin’ the next train this morning, and I’ll be bringing him to the the bay to be cooked. Say goodbye to your little friend.”

“ _ John! Help _ !” Paul cried as the hunter began running down the hallway. He and George pushed through the other visitors, and George bolted right after him, John right behind. 

They hurried down the stairs, but George tripped on an uneven floorboard and fell right halfway down the stairs. “ _ Shit _ .” George said, burying his head in his arms. “ _ No, no, no, no… _ ”

John crouched down beside him, trying not to get upset too. “Don’t worry, Geo. We’ll find ‘im.” he said, rubbing George’s back. “I know we will.”

“How?” George suddenly said, glaring at John. “How are we going to find Paul? That hunter will never let us at him ever again. He’s gone.”

John watched as steady tears flowed down George’s face. John tried his hardest to think of a way they could get to Paul, replaying every second of their conversation with the hunter in his head. And then he remembered. “Geo!” he said, standing up suddenly. “He’s taking the next train tomorrow morning to the bay!”

George looked up, eyes still dark. “So?”

“So we have to go to the station tomorrow, and we’ll find him!” John said, pulling George up. “I know we will.”

George sniffed and wiped his face on his sleeve. “Okay.” he said, his voice trying to be steady. “But...we still have to deal with all that water.”

“Not if we just...leave the hotel.” John said quietly.

George’s eyes flashed. “We can’t do that.”

John lowered his brow. “We’re pirates, George. We can do anything.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy John-Meets-Paul day! 🍋

Ringo  woke up the next morning with a start. When he remembered what day it was, he moved so fast across the sandy floor he nearly tripped and smacked his face on the ground. He emerged from the water, terribly excited, to see Cynthia waiting on the shore with some things around her.

Ringo approached her, looking around to see a cage on wheels (a lot bigger than his old one), a spear, and the same dark cloak. “What?” he said, gesturing around to them. 

“Oh, don’t worry about that stuff,” Cynthia told him. “It’s just for the plan I made.”

“Plan? Tell!” Ringo said.

“Okay.” Cynthia rolled the cage over to her. “So, I’m going to put you in this cage to make it look like I caught you. Then I’m gonna hold this spear to add to the image of me being a hunter, and I’ll put on the cloak to hide who I am.”

Ringo nodded quickly. “Good plan.” he said. “It will work!”

“I’m glad you think so!” Cynthia said, her face brightening. “You’ll have a lot of extra tentacle room in this cage too, so it won’t be super uncomfortable.” She opened the top. “Wanna get in? The train leaves in thirty minutes.”

“Yes.” Ringo said as he perched over the top of the cage. He slipped in and Cynthia gently shut it over him. “A lot of room in here.”

“Yeah, it was the biggest one I could find,” Cynthia said as she picked up the spear. She draped the cloak over herself and began pushing the cage up the shore. “Oh, I can’t wait for you to find your friend. It’ll be the happiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

_ I can’t wait either,  _ thought Ringo.  _ It’s going to be amazing. _

They finally got to the main town after a lot of pushing. “Twenty minutes,” Cynthia murmured. “The station isn’t far now.”

“I hope we’re not too late,” Ringo replied quietly.

“We won’t be,” Cynthia assured him, but she picked up the pace anyway. 

There were a lot of big buildings around, but none looked like a train station. They passed every one of them, and Ringo worried they’d missed the station. But Cynthia headed on firmly, so Ringo tried to relax and stay calm in the cage.

At the edge of town, Ringo saw a flat, wide building that seemed to snake on forever. “Here we are.” Cynthia said as she opened one of the doors. “You’re going to be in the freight unit, so we have to be separated for the ride up. But it’ll be okay, I promise.”

Ringo stared up at her. “I’ll be alone?”

“Yes,” Cynthia said. “But it’ll be fine.”

Ringo sighed shakily, rubbing his arms.  _ I don’t feel too good about that,  _ he thought with a shiver.  _ But I guess I don’t really have a choice. _

There was a lot of yelling and people around inside the building, but Cynthia got to the platform she wanted eventually. “We have ten minutes,” she said. “Just try to keep calm.”

Ringo closed his eyes, hoping to block out the noise and confusion that was making him so nervous.  _ Okay. I’m trying. _

Through all the voices he could suddenly hear just one, so he focused on it. The voice was shaky, and it sounded scared. But it was singing. Ringo thought he could recognize it for a moment. The singing sounded so familiar to him...who was it?

He opened his eyes with a gasp. It was  _ Paul! _

“Cynthia!” he cried, racing to the back of the cage. “I hear Paul!”

“What?” she said, crouching down to see him. “Where?”

“I don’t know.” Ringo said. He closed his eyes. Paul’s voice was farther away now, but it was coming from...the left. “Left.”

“Okay.” Cynthia said. She grabbed the cage and began pushing it down the platform. Ringo looked around for Paul’s blue tail or black hair, but he didn’t see it. The voice was getting closer! 

“Keep going.” Ringo urged her. 

Cynthia weaved through tons of people, but Ringo didn’t see Paul. Suddenly the voice was cut off with a gasp. “He stopped.” Ringo said. “Oh, no, he  _ stopped… _ ”

Cynthia slowed down to a halt. “He did?”

Ringo nodded, looking around. “Where else could he be?” He tried to look for Paul, but it was clear he wasn’t going to find him. He sighed, lowering his head in another sour defeat.

“ _ Ringo _ !”

Ringo’s head lifted so fast he slammed it on the top of the cage.  _ What in the world _ ? “Ringo! I’m right here!” Instead of English, whoever was calling him was speaking his language! 

He looked around again, and suddenly he saw a flash of royal blue scales. He glanced up to see Paul, in a smaller cage than his, crouched down with his brown eyes wide. There was a massive guy standing next to it, his fists gripping the cage top like steel. “There he is!” Ringo cried.

“Are you sure?” Cynthia said warily.

“Yes!” Ringo said, practically jumping up and down. 

“Okay,” Cynthia responded, pushing the cage forward. Tears nicked the edges of Ringo’s eyes as he got closer and closer to his friend. Suddenly their cages collided, but Ringo didn’t care. 

“Who are you?” the man with Paul growled to Cynthia, turning around to face her. Ringo noticed him lift his hands off Paul’s cage.

“I’m sorry,” Cynthia said, glancing at Ringo. He pushed the cage top open and crawled over to Paul’s, opening it as well. Paul practically flew out, and they fell onto the ground, hugging each other so tight Ringo about suffocated.

“I can’t believe I found you here.” Ringo said, his tentacles weaving around Paul’s tail. “I missed you so much.”

Paul just nodded, holding him with his head buried in Ringo’s shoulder. Ringo decided no words could describe how happy he was, but it just felt  _ so good  _ to be with Paul again. He would never leave him again.

Just then, he heard the man bark something to Cynthia. “Pull your siren offa mine.” he said, pointing to Paul with one fat finger. “I’ve got places to be.”

Cynthia narrowed her eyes. “No,” she said firmly. “We’ve been looking for your siren far and wide. I’ll pay you however much you want for him, but I’m not letting them be separated again.”

The man looked suspicious. “120 pounds.”

“Done.” Cynthia said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the money. The man held it in his hands, looking shocked that he’d gotten it so easily. He distractedly pushed Paul’s open cage away and disappeared into the crowd of people.

Ringo glanced at Paul. Instead of seeming happy, he looked...worried. “What’s wrong?” Ringo asked, in English so Cynthia could understand. He hoped Paul knew it as well. 

“My...my friends.” Paul said. “They’re pirates. They helped me get here. Last night that man took me away from them...and I want to thank them for their help.”

Ringo tilted his head. “You got a human to help you too?”

“She’s  _ helping  _ you?” Paul said, glancing up at Cynthia. 

“Of course I’m helping him!” Cynthia said. “And I’ll do the same for you. What do your friends look like?”

“Umm...well…” Paul looked down at his tail. “One’s rather tall, with dark brown hair. His eyes are lighter brown, and he’s got these two bright orange cloths ‘round his head and his arm. The other’s shorter, and he’s got large brown boots on, and a scar on his head.”

“That should be enough.” Cynthia said. “Could both of you get back in here? It’ll make things easier for me.”

“Sure.” Ringo said. He and Paul slipped into the cage and shut the top. Ringo still leaned into his friend, not wanting to spend one more minute apart from him. 

He glanced up at Paul, hoping he’d be as happy as Ringo was. But instead, he looked worried and desperate to find his friends. Ringo could understand that, but he wanted Paul to be joyful again, and he wouldn’t stop at anything to make that happen. 


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dang everything is going wrong huh

George  peered around for Paul, despite knowing he wouldn’t be in the town square at 6 o’ clock in the morning. It was painfully cold, and his back was aching from the horrible sleep he’d gotten on a park bench last night. The sun was hardly up yet, but here they were, heading towards the train station to find Paul.

Staying close to the shore, George and John were going as fast as they could through the sand.  _ It might be too late,  _ George thought, getting uncomfortable.  _ Paul might already be gone.  _

With that thought, he passed John.

The ocean was anything but calm today. The blue waves sprayed up water when they crashed onto shore and the wind howled with such a ferocity that it nearly swept George off of his feet. The sky, thankfully, was a normal pale blue, but the fat clouds promised rain later.

“We’re nearly there.” George said. He could see the station and the ship docks in the distance. There were two ships there. One was a small sailboat while the other was so tall it cast a shadow over everything else. George wondered why such a ship would even be in the small Arville dock.

But the two of them pushed on anyway, and soon they were approaching their destination. “We can still be on time.” John said as they got to the docks. “I doubt the train leaves at six.”

“Me too.” George agreed. He stared up at the massive ship in the docks. The name was plastered in red near the top. He squinted to see it, and when he realized what it was, his heart dropped right through the ground. He grabbed John’s arm and pointed. “Look.”

John’s brown eyes grew wide. “No...is that…”

George nodded with a gulp. “The  _ Dianthus _ .”

“How could they be here?” John said, stepping back and grabbing his head. “How would they know that we’re here…?”

George shook his head fast. “I don’t know.” he said.  _ Why have so many things gone wrong recently? This is just icing on the cake! But how did they know we were coming here? I didn’t tell anyone...except...except... _ **_Yoko_ ** _. _

When he realized the monumentally bad decision he had made, he gazed up at John, trying to figure out if he should tell him. It would just cause more problems later if he didn’t. “John,” he said slowly. “I...think I know how they found us here.”

John’s head snapped up, and his eyes were ablaze with frustration and panic. “How?”

George glanced at the ground. “Well…” he began, “when I asked that cook where they cooked sirens...there was this woman who showed me how to get to the kitchen. She overheard that we were going here. She must have  _ told  _ Brian that we were coming, and now they want us back.”

John stared at him for what seemed like an eternity, and it frankly scared George how quiet he was being. But he knew it wouldn’t last for long, and it didn’t. He exploded all at once. “Why in the  _ hell  _ would you let her hear that?” John roared, and George flinched. “Do you know how stupid that was? Do you? Now we’re never going to find Paul or Ringo because guess what, Geo?  _ You  _ let them know where we are!”

George watched John turn around and cross his arms, still muttering to himself. He felt awful, and his heart was still drumming. Nothing George could say would make John forgive him, so he wasn’t going to try apologizing. 

Suddenly he heard a sharp yell from behind. He and John both whirled around at the same time to see a crowd of pirates from the  _ Dianthus.  _ Yoko was leading them, and they had spotted John and George. And the worst part was...they were coming.

George’s adrenalin spiked through the roof. “Run!” he cried, and with that John and George both took off into town.

George ran faster than he ever had before, his lungs burning as he tried not to trip over his own legs. John had always been faster than George, so he sped up ahead. George glanced over his shoulder. The pirates from the Dianthus were still following them, and they were definitely going to catch up. He knew he had to split up with John to make it harder for them to catch him. 

He tried to make a sharp left turn, but somebody shoved him and threw him to the ground. “Ow!” he yelled as they pressed his stinging face into the dirt. George turned to see Yoko, her eyes sharp as she stared down at him. 

Yoko turned around to the other pirates. “Half of you, go get the other. And half, bring  _ him  _ back to the  _ Dianthus _ .” she ordered. She briefly got off of George, but Shark-Bait Reyson stepped up to the plate and grabbed George’s arm with a grip so tight he could practically feel the circulation cutting off.

“Let go of me.” George snapped, trying to pull away. But Shark-Bait didn’t respond and kept holding on.

The rest of the pirates went back to the  _ Dianthus. _ George attempted another attempt, but Shark-Bait wasn’t budging, so he didn’t bother another try. 

It was odd to be back in his old ship again, but nothing had really changed. He knew they were going to the Captain’s quarters, and he was a bit nervous about that. He had no clue what Brian was going to say to him, or even worse,  _ do  _ to him.

Shark-Bait opened the door to Brian’s desk room and nearly threw George inside. “Good luck.” he growled before slamming the door.

George slowly turned to look at Brian. The captain was sitting at his desk, staring at the surface with his hands pressed together. George didn’t know what to do, so he just waited until Brian glanced back up at him. 

“George.” Brian grunted. 

George blinked a couple times. “Um. Yeah?”

Brian waved at the chair in front of him. “Sit down.”

His legs feeling like sticks of lead, George sat down, awkwardly clearing his throat. Brian still hadn’t moved. “So...this is the first time in six days I’ve seen your face on this ship.” he said.

George nodded hastily.

“Can you tell me why?”

George leaned back in his chair and looked out the window. This was all very unconventional, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t last for long. Anyway, should he tell the truth? What would the harm in that be? Would  _ John  _ tell the truth? 

Probably not.

But George wasn’t John, so…

“I fell off the ship after that battle, remember?” George finally said. “And I was going to drown, because I was hurt and I couldn’t swim. Then I...I passed out. When I came back, this  _ siren  _ had saved me.”

Brain was staring at him, looking like he believed it.

“So anyway, I was just going to go on my way, but...the siren’s friend had been taken from him. And he wanted to find him, but, obviously, he needed help,” George explained. “So when John found me, we promised to help him. We were going to come back, we swear, but…”

Brian narrowed his eyes. “That’s a very understandable story, George, but what’s less understandable is why you didn’t tell me or the rest of the crew. We might have helped you,” he said. “But instead you abandoned your ship without a word.”

George lowered his head. “Sorry,” he murmured.

There was a sudden ruckus outside, and the door was slammed open. George turned around. They had gotten to John, and though he looked exhausted and roughed up, Shark-Bait still had a good grip on him. Then the door was shut again and John was standing in the room, frustrated, but not looking at George for a moment.

“John,” Brian said, “George has told me why you left.”

John didn’t reply and looked away from Brian. 

“I’m sorry, boys, but this is inexcusable.” the captain said. “We could have lost two very valuable pirates. And abandoning your own ship certainly isn’t the greatest display of loyalty.”

“So what are you gonna do, then?” George muttered.

Brian looked upon them with pity added to a sort of fatherly disappointment and anger. “I’m sorry,” he said, standing up. “But I’m going to have to lock you up for a while.”

“What?” John suddenly growled. “You can’t do that!”

“Don’t talk back to me, Lennon.” Brian said firmly. “It’s policy. I’m not going to let you wander around after you left the ship!”

George’s heart began to pound. “But….our friend! He needs our help!” he said, thoughts of Paul filling his already overwhelmed head. “He’s going to die if we don’t find him!”

“We might be too late already!” John added.

Brain shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry.” he repeated.

George’s jaw dropped and he glanced at John. The older pirate didn’t return his glance, but if looks could kill, Brian would be dead on the floor in an instant. 

“Please, Brian.” George said, getting up. “Please. Just let us find him, and we’ll stay on this ship for a hundred more years if you want. Just...please…”

Brian stared at him, unmoved, and shook his head once more.

George covered his face with his hand.  _ Well. We blew it. We were supposed to save Paul now, and he’s probably already off to the bay. How could we have been so stupid...how could  _ **_I_ ** _ have been so stupid…? _

Brian stepped over to the door and opened it. “Shark-Bait! Ghost-Eyes!” he called. “Come here please.”

George just stared at the wall, feeling like he was in pieces. This was all his fault. He never expected John to forgive him for this. Hell, he never expected John to even  _ talk  _ to him after the awful mistake he’d made.

Ghost-Eyes and Shark-Bait filed in after Brian, and the captain handed them a golden key. “Now, take this and open one of the lower doors.  _ Don’t  _ forget to lock it after you’ve gone.” he said, but it sounded like it was hurting him. “Then bring it back to me.”

“Yessir.” Ghost-Eyes said as he took the key. Then Shark-Bait grabbed John, and Ghost-Eyes George. He could see Brian looking after them, seeming guilty. But then he was gone. 

After they’d passed him, John began trying to get away. But Shark-Bait (as previously mentioned) was not letting go, and he looked pretty irritated with John. George wanted to tell him to stop, but John wouldn’t heed him, most likely. 

There was a particularly sharp jerk that made Shark-Bait snap. George watched as the bigger pirate’s fist socked John’s face, close to his eye, before Shark-Bait went back to walking like nothing had happened. George itched to go see John’s injury, but he knew it would be useless.

He could tell they were getting to the bottom of the ship by how dark it looked. Ghost-Eyes stared down at the key before opening one of the dusty doors. It was terribly dark inside, but Shark-Bait and Ghost-Eyes didn’t have one doubt about throwing George and John inside. 

Ghost-Eyes was about to lock the door, but Shark-Bait stopped him. “Wait,” he grunted. He went over to John, who had his hand over the area where Shark-Bait had punched him. 

George stood in the corner of the tiny room, crossing his arms as a chill went through. He prayed Shark-Bait wasn’t going to go ahead and beat John to a pulp, and for once his prayer was answered.

He stepped back a bit, and something clinked below his shoe. He looked down to see an open chain linked to the wall. He looked up, and suddenly he realized what Shark-Bait was doing. He had chained John’s wrist to the wall. “That’ll keep ya, eh?” he joked with a disgusting grin toward Ghost-Eyes. The other pirate laughed and shut the door. 

George heard the painfully loud lock from the outside, and then it was completely quiet.

He slid down the wall, arms still crossed as he sat on the ground. It was freezing in here, but at least there was a little window up in the corner. He could see a glimpse of the sky, which was clouding over with gray.

George heard John wince and went over to him. “Hey,” he said, sitting beside his friend. “Can I see your eye?”

He’d expected John to get angry, but instead he uncovered his face and let George see (well, what he could see in the dark). It had already started to bruise, and it was clear a black eye was forming on John’s face. “Oh…” George said with a grimace. He didn’t know if he could help John with it, as there was nothing but  _ them  _ in the room, so he just stared at the ground.

“Yeah, that’s right.” John suddenly said, anger thick in his voice. “Look away. There’s nothing we can do about it. Do you know... _ why  _ there’s nothing we can do?”

George nodded. “Yeah. I do, John.”

“Then please, enlighten me. Why?”

George stood up. “Because I’m an  _ idiot _ ,” he said. “Because I’m stupid and and idiot. I put us in here. I made this all happen. It’s because of me, and I know it is. I don’t really expect you to forgive me, and to be honest, I don’t really think I deserve to be talked to. Because  _ I  _ put you in pain,  _ I  _ locked us in here, and  _ I _ am the reason that Paul is probably dead by now. Alright?”

John stared at him, wide-eyed and speechless. He probably hadn’t expected that to happen at all. But he didn’t say anything else, and neither did George. They just had to face it. They were screwed. 


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :0000

Paul  couldn’t stop looking at Ringo. He couldn’t believe he had found him. It was just...amazing. He thought he was going to die one minute, and the next, he was with his best friend in the whole world. 

But now he had to find his... _ other  _ best friends. 

They were leaving the train station that day to get to the hotel where Paul had been taken. It wasn’t far. All they had to do was cross the shore and then come into the town square again. But Paul was still worried they wouldn’t be there. At least he had Ringo and Cynthia to help him feel better.

“What if they’re not there?” he said again as the thought came to him. “I hope they’re there…”

“They  _ will. _ ” Ringo said. “I promise! Where else could they go?”

“I dunno.” Paul said with a shrug. “They could go looking for me.”

“Oh yeah,” Ringo said with grimace. That made Paul even more nervous. 

“Don’t  _ worry _ ,” Cynthia said. “I know they’ll be there. But if they’re not－which is highly unlikely－I’ll help you find them.”

“Okay.” Paul said, taking in a deep, shuddery breath. He felt Ringo’s hand on his tail, and he put his hand on top. 

They were approaching the shore. “Wow, look at that big boat!” Cynthia exclaimed. Paul looked out of the cage to see a massive ship in the docks. “I wonder who that belongs to.”

“Yeah, me too…” Paul said. He looked up at the name written across the side. The  _ Dianthus. _ Hm...that sounded familiar. Wasn’t it...John and George’s ship? “Wait. That’s...that’s…”

“What?” Ringo said, leaning forward.

“That’s their ship!” Paul said, gripping the cage bars. “The  _ Dianthus _ . I know it is!”

Cynthia stared at it. “Why would it be  _ here _ ? They don’t sail around these oceans, do they?” she wondered. “Does that mean John and George are there?”

“Maybe.” Paul said, not taking his eyes off the ship. 

“But what about the hotel?” Ringo asked.

“That could be plausible too,” Cynthia pointed out.

“I know, I know,” Paul stared down. “Uh...how about this? Me and Ringo will go to the ship and see if John and George are there, because we can swim there. And Cynthia, if you could go to the hotel and check for them…”

“Okay.” Cynthia said, opening the cage top. “I’ll do it.”

Ringo smiled and stretched as they slid out of the cage. “Yes, finally! Some water!” he said. “Alright. Can we meet right here?”

“Yes,” Cynthia said, drawing an x in the sand with her finger. “There’s the spot. I’ll see you!”

“Bye!” Paul said, waving as they parted ways.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Ringo said, grabbing Paul’s hand as they made their way down to the water. “This is exhilarating!”

“It’s a bit more scary for me, though.” Paul said as they dove into the water. He watched as Ringo’s tentacles spread out. “Oh, I’m so glad to have you back.”

“Me too,” Ringo said, giving him another quick hug. “Now, let’s get to that ship!”

They both swam as fast as they could to the  _ Dianthus.  _ Paul could see the wide bottom of it floating in the water, ominous and dark. “There it is,” he said as he got closer.

“How are we going to get on, though?” Ringo said, glancing up at the massive boat. “We can’t just climb it, and heaven knows there’s no way to get into the inside.”

“True.” Paul scanned the boat. He saw a few tiny windows near the water. “Hey. Maybe we can get in through there!” He pointed towards the windows, and Ringo followed his gaze. 

“Oh, yeah…” Ringo said. “Maybe!”

“How do we open them, though?” Paul wondered.

Ringo’s eyes lit up. “I’ve got an idea. I’ll get a rock from the ocean floor and break one of the windows.” he suggested.

“Alright.” Paul said. Ringo grinned and dove down deeper, spraying up bubbles. He came back a moment later with a hefty rock. “I think that’ll work.”

So the both of them came to a window. With equal effort, they through the rock into it, smashing the glass into little fragments. “Perfect.” Ringo said. “I’ll go in first.”

Paul pushed him inside and then grabbed the window frame, hauling himself inside the room too. It was dark and empty, except for a bucket and a few chains in the corner. He was slightly disappointed that his friends weren’t there, but he knew this ship was huge and they could be anywhere.

Ringo pushed open the door, and they moved out into the narrow, chilly hallway. It was a bit hard for Paul to drag himself across the ground, especially since Ringo was moving so fast, but he tried to keep up as best he could, wishing he was in the water and regretting not enjoying it earlier.

They finally got to a little staircase. “Ugh.” Paul panted as they got to the top. “It’s so hard to do this…”

Ringo looked upon him with pity. “Oh, yeah. I forgot you…”

“It’s fine.” Paul said. “It’s okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah...I just gotta…”

Just then, Paul heard some voices inside one of the doors they were by. It opened, and he saw three pirates come out, looking thoroughly shocked at their appearance there.

“‘Ey, Raider. Come here, we got two little fish on deck.”

Paul groaned inwardly, but he knew that he wouldn’t let these pirates take them away from each other. Besides, he had a power on his side. His voice.

“Ooh, we could make a nice dish with these, couldn’t we?” the pirate Paul assumed was Raider commented. “Maybe we could bring them to the kitchen?”

“Paul!” Ringo hissed.

“I got this.” Paul whispered. He cleared his throat.  _ I know how to take them!  _ With a deep breath, he let out the most graceful, smooth, beautiful note he could muster, carried it up, down, and everywhere around the scale he could think of. And he watched the pirates go into a deep trance, watching him like puppies.

Suddenly something wacked the pirates’ heads, all in a row. Paul turned, his singing cutting off, to see Ringo with a massive stake in his hands. “Got them!” he said with a grin.

“Nice job,” said Paul, admiring the good wacks they’d gotten in the pirates’ heads. 

They made their way around the ship, but they hardly saw anyone at all. Paul was beginning to lose hope, and he had a feeling John and George were not going to be here. They passed a wide, expensive-looking door for Paul to rest eventually, and he wasn’t feeling very optimistic.

“Don’t worry, Paul,” Ringo said, trying to get him to feel better. “I’m sure Cynthia found them in the inn. And we still have plenty of the ship to look around in.”

“I dunno, Ringo.” Paul said, leaning his head against the wall. “I don’t think they’re going to be at the inn either.” He buried his face in his hands. “This is all just a big mess.”

“Yes, they’re in one of the bottom rooms. Yessir, we have the key. Here it is.”

Paul opened his eyes and looked up. Someone was talking in the room they were near. Ringo looked up into the window, and Paul got a little glimpse. Two big pirates were talking to what looked like the captain of the ship. 

“You know I hate to lock up the both of them.” the captain said woefully. “They’ve really been like sons to me, and I feel just awful about it…”

“John and George deserve it, capp’n. They left the ship…”

“I know, but…” the captain waved his hands. “It’s alright. You two can go. Thank you for doing that for me…”

The two pirates opened the door, and Paul felt Ringo tug him behind a wall. “Did you hear that?” the yellow siren said. “They locked John and George up!”

“I know,” Paul was practically giddy. He knew where they were! “I know they did...but they have the key...we can’t get them out…”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard.” Ringo said. “We need to get back to Cyn, though, or else she won’t know what’s going on. We can figure all of that other stuff out later.”

“Umm...okay.” Paul said. “Alright.” His hands were shaking and he felt a bit lightheaded in all this excitement. 

“There’s a window over there.” Ringo said, and Paul tried to concentrate. “We’ll open it and get out from there. Deal?”

“Deal.” Paul nodded. They crawled over to the window as fast as they could, Ringo snapping a switch on the frame. Then he opened the window, and a sea breeze ruffled Paul’s hair. Ringo leaped out and into the water, and Paul followed.

The ocean felt good, and it calmed him down a bit. He was a tornado of emotions at the moment, but he managed to follow Ringo back to the shore. Sure enough, Cynthia was waiting there, looking awfully disappointed. “I didn’t find them.” she said when the two sirens pulled themselves over to her.

“We didn’t either,” Ringo said. “But then we overheard the captain talking. He said that he’d locked John and George up in the bottom of the ship!”

“Really?” Cynthia’s eyes went big. “So all we need to do is…”

“No, no,” Ringo said, “ _ they  _ have a key to get in.”

“Oh,” Cynthia said with a wince. “So...how…”

“We have to get the key from them,” Paul finally piped up, having calmed himself considerably. 

“That sounds difficult, but I’m sure we can do it.” Cynthia said.

Paul stared up at her, confidence growing inside him. He was sure they could do it too. But only if they planned it out just right...


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on this one folks! 🍋

John couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. It was so dark in the little room they’d been shoved into, and there was no light anywhere. He had been _trying_ to fall asleep for about half an hour, but it was clear he wasn’t going to. At least George had.

He didn’t really know what to do about George now. Of course, his friend had been a bloody fool to let  _ anybody  _ know where they were going, but his apology had been so rough and genuine that John didn’t really know if he should still be angry. It was just awkward now. 

But he had bigger fish to fry.

They were going to be stuck in this room for God knows how long, and there was no way that John wasn’t going to try and escape somehow. George was going to be useful in their getting out plan, though, since he had free reign of the room.

John brought his hand up to his knees, and the chain clinked a bit. He was regretting his behavior earlier, not just because of the fact his wrist was chained to the wall but also how bad his face was hurting. He should have  _ known  _ Shark-Bait wouldn’t take any of John’s crap, but now he had a bruised face to teach him not to mess with the other pirates. Ouch.

John glanced up at the tiny window in the corner. The sky was completely black, and he could barely see a few white stars. He wondered why Brian hadn’t set sail from Arville yet...he’d gotten what he wanted. John’s head was spinning with all sorts of thoughts, and he pressed his fingers into his forehead. Maybe he should just go to sleep.

He closed his eyes with a large yawn, attempting to think of absolutely nothing. That’s what usually got him to fall asleep. But it was harder tonight...there were so many things wrong that he needed to mull over in his head.

Things wrong that...he might never get to fix.

No, Brian wasn’t going to keep them down there  _ forever. _ He just said “for a while” earlier, so that must only mean hopefully for a few days? Weeks at the most? Ehh, that wouldn’t matter anyway, since John was going to leave this hellhole as soon as he possibly could. To be completely honest, he never wanted to see this blasted ship ever again. 

Now the question was: would he bring George?

Part of his head said of  _ course,  _ while the other said no. But John knew he really should bring George along with him, no matter how stupid he’d been by telling Yoko where they were going. He and George had been through a lot together, and just abandoning him here would be worse than anything.

Besides, maybe if they got out of here fast enough, they could save Paul. Well, probably not, since the train had already left, but there was still a chance. They’d already gotten to Arville, and Skywater Bay wasn’t far away. Paul might still be alive. But if they wanted to get to him before he  _ wasn’t _ alive anymore, they would have to get out of here fast. 

John could already feel himself dropping off into sleep, so he let his thoughts stop for the night. And although the ground was rough and hard, he managed to fall asleep in no time.

Somebody was banging on the window. 

John blinked his eyes open to see hard wood floor. There was some rhythmic pounding on the window that had most likely woken him up, and he had absolutely no clue what it was.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and looked up at the window. All he could see was a fist, and it was unusually small. 

Slowly, he stood up, still not entirely awake. George was still asleep in the corner, although it wouldn’t be long until he was disturbed by this awful noise as well. John didn’t have far to go till the chain tightened, but he could generally see the entire window now. 

There was somebody there. Like, a real, actual person was clinging to the side of the ship and banging on the window. And when he saw John, his eyes lit up. “Hi!” he said loud, so John could hear on the other side of the glass.

“Hey,” John replied awkwardly, wondering why this person was so comfortable with hanging onto the  _ Dianthus _ like it was some jungle gym. “Who are you?”

“I’m Ringo.”

“ _ Ringo _ ?” John repeated, his heart dropping. “Do you know Paul?”

“Yeah,” Ringo nodded quickly. “And he’s alive, so just letting you know…”

“You’re a siren, then?” John said, noticing George as he woke up. “How are you just sitting there?” There was a million other questions in his head, but that seemed like the most proper to ask.

“Oh, I’ve got tentacles, not a tail.” Ringo said. “So I’ve got suckers that can cling onto things.”

“That makes sense…” John said, and then he remembered what Ringo had said earlier. “Wait, Paul’s  _ alive _ ?! Where is he?”

“Hmm?” George grunted as he looked up at John. “Why are you talkin’ to the window?”

“Ringo’s there! And Paul’s alive!” John hissed. “Come over here!”

George’s eyebrows shot up and he stumbled over to the window. “Woah.” he said. “You’re  _ Ringo _ ?”

“The one and only.” the siren replied. “But listen. Me and Paul are gonna help get you out of here. He and our friend Cynthia are trying to get the key right now, but it might be a while.”

“Thank god!” George said, doing a little jump backward. “We’re gonna get out of here, John!”

“Yeah,” the older pirate replied with a smile.  _ And I don’t have to do any of the work… _

“Well…” Ringo began, “I can’t hold on for much longer, so I have to drop off. I’ll keep you updated, okay!”

“Alright,” John said, and Ringo’s head dropped below their vision.

A massive smile was spread across George’s face. “We’re going to get out of here, John,” he said, excitement making his voice high. “Oh, I can’t wait. Thank god for Paul.”

“And Ringo,” John said. “Who knows? If he wasn’t here, maybe he couldn’t have helped Paul and...whoever that Cynthia person is.”

George nodded quickly, crossing his arms. “I just wonder how on Earth they’re going to get the key…”


	22. Chapter 22

Paul  peeked out from inside Cynthia’s backpack, trying to see outside at least a little bit. He knew they were on the  _ Dianthus  _ now, and all they had to do was get to Brian and the key.

They had come up with the plan the night before, and Paul was a bit iffy on it. Cynthia was supposed to dress up as a pirate and pretend to be a crewmate while Paul hid in her backpack. Then she would go down and ask Brian how some cannon worked. While he explained, Paul would grab the key from him through the backpack. Then they would leave the room and go down to the basement, and free John and George. Lastly, they would go up through the stairs and onto deck, and then swim as far as they could so the  _ Dianthus  _ would never find them.

It seemed...foolproof. Right?

Well, no pirates had suspected anything yet, so Paul thought they were doing pretty well. He knew Cynthia was nervous, because he could hear her obsessively clearing her throat and scratching her face. He was nervous too. If somebody found them out, he didn’t even know what they would do.

But now they were padding down the hallway to Brian’s office. Paul was outrageously uncomfortable, smushed into her tiny backpack, but he knew he had a job to do. He heard Cynthia push the door open, and he knew it was game time.

“Hello.” Brian said. “Don’t think I’ve seen you around much.”

“Oh, yeah, I only joined the crew a few weeks ago,” Cynthia replied. Paul could hear the tremor in her voice, and he winced, hoping it wouldn’t blow their cover. “I didn’t get a chance to meet you.”

“Well, I’m Brian, but you can just call me Captain,” Brian replied, and Paul felt Cynthia lean forward to shake his hand. “It’s not often we have women in this ship. But you’ve probably understood that it’s rather rough on here.”

“Yes, s-sir,” Cynthia said. “So I was...inspecting things today, and I saw...a cannon that we hadn’t fired. D-do you know how it works?”

“Of course,” Brian said, and he plunged off into an explanation. Paul felt Cynthia turn a bit, and he decided that now was his chance.

He peeked out of the backpack, taking in a good view of his surroundings. Then he noticed a desk, and on it was a rack of keys. That  _ had  _ to be it! He saw Cynthia’s hand move closer to the keys, and Paul knew she was indicating for him to pick them up.

Slowly and surely, his hand poked out of the backpack. Glancing quickly at Brian, he snatched the keys off of his desk and shoved them into the backpack with himself. He didn’t hear Brian falter at all, and he knew he’d done it! Silently congratulating himself, he began to look over the keys, making sure not to make noise.

“Okay, well, thank you,” Cynthia said after Brian had finished. “Uhh, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“Good.” Brian said. “Now, I do have some things to do, so…”

“I’ll go now,” Cynthia replied, and Paul heard the door shut. There were some steps, and then Cynthia hissed, “We did it, Paul!”

“I know. Now we just have to get to that room.”

“Ugh, we have to try  _ every  _ door.” Cynthia whispered as she went down some stairs. “I’m so nervous…”

“Don’t worry.” Paul said. “The first hard part is over.”

He pushed his head out of the backpack a bit to give Cynthia the keys. “Now I’ve just got to tell Ringo what’s happening.” Paul said. He looked around and spotted a small window. “Could you drop me off of that window?”

“Sure.” Cynthia replied, undoing the snaps on the backpack a bit more and pushing the window open. Paul slipped out and began plummeting into the ocean.

With a massive splash he landed, and immediately began looking for Ringo. He was thrilled that they’d managed to get the keys without Brian knowing. If they could do that, what else could they manage?

He saw Ringo bobbing by John and George’s window. “Ringo!” he called, waving his arms. “We got the keys!”

The yellow siren smiled. “Cool!” he said. “John and George know we’re coming to get them out. I can’t wait till I see them.”

“Me either.” Paul said. “I hope nothing goes wrong.”

  
  


Cynthia moved silently through the quiet hallways, occasionally trying a door with the keys. She was absolutely  _ terrified  _ that somebody would find her, and it made her hands shake a bit. At least the weight of Paul wasn’t on her back anymore. She hoped he’d managed to find Ringo.

She had to keep going down stairs because no keys were working. Eventually she got to the last floor. It was freezing! Cynthia rubbed her arms as the keys jangled painfully loud. At least nobody would be down here, hopefully.

At every door, she pressed her ear into the wood, hoping to hear some kind of noise. But it was always silent except for the ocean water outside. With a shaky sigh, she went down the hallway, losing hope that John and George were even there.

Cynthia finally got the last door. “Here we go,” she murmured to herself. She pushed the key into the hole and turned it. Nope. Another key. Nope. Another key. Nope.

Alright, last key. Cynthia held it tight in her fist, praying to every god in existence it might work. She slipped into the hole and, like a miracle, it turned. The door was unlocked.

“Thank goodness,” Cynthia sighed as she pulled the door open.

There were two pirates inside, both staring at her in pure bewilderment. One was dark-haired, so she had to assume that was George, and the other one must be－

_ Wow, he’s  _ **_attractive._ **

Cynthia had to stop her face from heating up. “Are you John and George?” she asked, trying not to trip over her words. “I’m Cynthia…”

“You’re  _ finally  _ here.” George said, coming over to her and grabbing her shoulders. “We’ve been waiting for you for hours!”

Cynthia laughed and pushed some of her hair behind her ear. “Well, I’m here now...in this ridiculous pirate getup…” she said with a shake of her head. She was trying  _ very  _ hard not to look at John, but she could see from the corner of her eye that his face was as red as hers probably was.

“So you’ve got a plan to get us out, then.” John said. He was trying to tug a tight chain on his wrist off. “And you have keys. Maybe one of ‘em will work on this chain?”

“Maybe,” Cynthia said. She went over to him and sat down next to the chain’s lock. A few keys were duds, but one unlocked it, thankfully. The chain slipped off of John like water. “There we go!”

“Thank god,” John said, rubbing his wrist. “Hey, you’re real pretty.”

“Thanks,” Cynthia replied, overly flustered.

“Alright, enough with the chit-chat, let’s get out of here!” George said, already half-way out the door.

“We’re going to exit through the deck,” Cynthia said as they ran up the stairs. “And then we’re going to jump off into the water to swim away. Hopefully it’ll work.”

“Where’s Paul and Ringo?” George asked.

“They’re in the ocean to assist us when we get there,” Cynthia answered. “Remember to take your shoes off once you get into the water. You don’t wanna drown.”

There was a collective nod and they proceeded up the stairs. As it got brighter and brighter, Cynthia had a feeling they would probably get out of here alive! She let out a sigh of relief.

They were almost to the deck now, only one staircase left. George and John had stopped to catch their breath, Cynthia included. It was rather quiet, and it made her uncomfortable that nobody had caught them yet. They couldn’t  _ all  _ be in their own rooms. That would be too odd. 

But they proceeded to the top anyway.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They can never catch a break can they

George  would never take open space for granted again. He was so grateful to Cynthia for helping them get out, but he had a feeling their problems wouldn’t be over yet, especially since the entire crew was on the deck waiting for them, Yoko and Brian in front. 

“Well, that’s a look.” John muttered as the three of them stood there, absolutely terrified and shocked. “Wanna give us a key to get out of this one, Cyn?”

Cynthia didn’t respond and only gulped.

“You’ve tried to escape  _ again _ ?” Brian was the first to talk, pure disappointment in his voice. “I didn’t know I had such disloyal pirates on my crew. Didn’t you know that I would have let you out? Now your punishment will be a million times worse.”

“We’re tired of being on this ship,” George said, a lot sooner than he was prepared to. But he stepped forward anyway, trying to assert himself. “We’re people. We have a choice, whether we want to be here or not.”

Brian’s eyes flashed, and he muttered something to Yoko. She glanced back at the crew. Suddenly her voice rose. “Attack!” she called, pointing to John, George, and Cynthia.

“Got it,” John said. He grabbed the sword off of his belt and immediately clashed it with one of the pirates’. The others ran for George and Cynthia, who didn’t have any weapons. 

“Jump off!” George roared, grabbing Cynthia’s arm to coax her toward the edge of the ship. She didn’t quite want to leave yet, which made him pretty confused. “What are you waiting for?”

“I don’t wanna leave you both on your own!”

“Just…” George looked over his shoulder. John was getting overpowered, and more pirates were coming for them. “Tell Paul and Ringo to wait for us.”

“Fine.” Cynthia said before plunging off into the deep.

George whirled around to face his crewmates. Taking his chance, he socked one of them in face. He stumbled back, roaring in pain, as the others looked at him. George took advantage of their off-guardness and began attacking the others with his fists. He knew he didn’t have long before their swords would hurt him.

George pushed past two of them and bolted across the ship, hoping to jump off with John right behind. He looked around for John, and eventually spotted him. The pirate he’d been battling had two swords, one of which was John’s, which meant...he didn’t have one.

A shot of panic went up George’s spine. He was about to run over to John, but he felt a massive weight on top of him. Ghost-Eyes had tackled him! George tried to fight him off, but Ghost-Eyes was too strong.

John, meanwhile, was cornered. His eyes were wide with alarm, and he seemed to know that this was the end. George tried to squirm out from under Ghost-Eyes, but to no avail. He watched in horror as John’s opponent raised his sword over his head, right about to smash it into John’s head. 

George’s heartbeat suddenly slowed. It was over for John now.

Suddenly there was a loud, sheer cry. George’s head snapped up to see something flash through the air, coming in between John and the pirate’s sword right as it came down. There was a spurt of red, and then commotion.

Ghost-Eyes finally got off of George, and he ran over to John. His friend looked absolutely horrified, and George followed his gaze down to the ground, his heart dropping straight through the floor.

A siren was lying there, wincing and shuddering, an awful red slash mark right through his tail. His brown eyes were watery, and there was blood all over.

That siren was Paul.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slight gore warning for this chapter, it's not heavy at all though.

John stared down at Paul, trying to process what had just happened. He had been in the process of being right-about-to-die when _something_ had come between him and the sword. And now, he was realizing, that something was Paul.

“God,” he suddenly hissed, everything coming to him at once. He hardly saw George trying to clear the rest of the crew out of the way. Paul looked  _ awful _ . His tail was badly injured, and he wasn’t going to make it if he lost too much blood. “Paul,  _ why  _ did you do that?”

Paul wiped his face, which was splattered with red. “Because I...I didn’t want y-you to die,” he said. “I’d rather m-me do it than you…”

“You should have just stayed down there,” John said. He tore a sleeve off of his shirt and pressed it gently on Paul’s injury, doing his best to stop the bleeding. “Then you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

Paul’s eyes were already half-closed, but he shook his head. “I don’t care…” he said, “you and George are a lot more important to me…” Suddenly he burst off into a spurt of coughing, and to John’s horror he saw spots of blood on the ground.

“Paul, oh god, _ Paul _ ,” George then said, crouching down beside him. “You need help. Like, bad. What can I do, John?”

“I...I dunno. Get bandages?” John replied absently. His entire sleeve was covered in red now, and it wasn’t doing much of anything anymore. George undid one of his orange cloths and handed it to John, hoping that might help.

Suddenly, John noticed Ringo perching over the side of the ship, blue eyes big. “Paul!” he yelled in shock, speeding over to his friend. Cynthia followed, very exhausted from climbing up the ship walls. “What did you do?”

John shook his head. “We don’t have time to explain.” he said, panic rising in his throat. Paul’s injury hadn’t stopped bleeding, and he didn’t know what else to do. He sure knew the crew wouldn’t help him, but there wasn’t many other options. Paul was going to bleed out.

“John?” George said, noticing that he’d stopped trying to stop the bleeding. “Are you okay?”

John just stared off into space. It felt like all the emotional walls he’d built up over the years were all crashing down, one by one, and for the first time in a million years, tears came to his eyes. It felt weird, and he didn’t like it. But then again, he didn’t really like anything about this situation. 

“Oh, Paul, I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice breaking as he bent down to put his head on Paul’s tail. “This is all my fault…”

He felt a weak hand on his head. “No, it’s not,” Paul’s shaky voice answered. “It’s not anyone’s fault. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine…”

“No, it won’t be fine.” John said as hot tears poured down his face. “Because you’re going to die, and it will all be because of me. And you won’t get to live with Ringo and be happy again because  _ I  _ had to get myself in trouble.” And with that, he burst into sobs, letting everything out that he’d been keeping in his entire life. He felt George’s hand on his back, and Cyn’s arms around him. Ringo’s tentacles slid onto his hand and over Paul’s tail. It would have been nice any other time, but none of their comfort was doing anything for him now.

“I said, don’t worry, John.” Paul said, giving him a sad smile as blood flowed down the corners of his mouth. “My life h-has been...so much better with y-you...I went p-places I would have never gone without y-you all. You made if a-all worthwhile for m-me...” His eyes blinked shut, and his head fell back. John stared at him, horrified and distraught. He never thought it would have ended like that. Slowly, he leaned down and put his head on Paul’s tail, letting the tears flow. He couldn’t believe that he couldn’t save Paul’s life, even after the siren had saved John’s own many years ago. Now Paul would never get to live on like John did, and he would never get up and swim again. It was awful. Just...so awful...

Through his tears, Ringo let out a shaky hum, which turned into a note. It took John a minute to realize...Ringo was singing. 

Cynthia joined in, both of their voices doing their best not to falter. Then George started, and all three of them were singing, loud and clear, for the world to hear. John watched as the stone on Paul’s necklace began to glow. It was just a dim shimmer, but it was lighting up.

John looked around. Should he join in the singing? Would it help at all? He took a deep breath in and started in the song, hoping and praying that whatever this singing meant would do something, anything at all.

Suddenly, John saw Paul’s eyelids twitch. His eyes widened and he kept singing, his voice growing stronger. Maybe something was happening! 

Just then, with a flash, Paul’s eyes were open and blinking. His chest starred to rise and fall, and he grunted a bit. John’s voice cut off. “Paul!” he cried, grabbing the siren and pulling him close. 

“He’s alive.” Cyn whispered as George and Ringo joined the massive hug. “Oh my god, he’s actually alive!”

The pirates who had witnessed this miracle all gasped and murmured amongst themselves, but John didn’t care. He just held Paul so tight he couldn’t feel his arms anymore. “You came back,” he kept saying. “You...actually came back…”

“I...I don’t know what happened.” Paul said, holding his head. “It was like I just...fell asleep, and when I woke up, you all were singing to me.”

“And your injury...it’s gone.” George pointed out. John glanced down to see that instead of a bloody mess there was only a thin scar. “Does it hurt anymore?”

“No,” Paul said, flapping his fins a bit. “Does this mean...you all brought me back to life?”

“I guess so.” Ringo said, his hands on top of Paul’s. “I’m just so glad that...you didn’t die for  _ real _ .”

“Me too,” Paul said. “Me too…”

Just then, Brain pushed through the crowd. John panicked a bit, noticing his captain’s cold stare. He sighed deeply. “I understand that this is a...very special thing to happen.” Brian said shortly. “And now I see how much...you all love each other.”

He glanced back at Yoko, who was staring at him sharply, and closed his eyes, turning away from her. “I will give you permission to leave this ship. I don’t see why not. If you all prefer to go, then...go. I won’t stop you anymore.”

“Thanks,” George said, standing up. “You were a good captain to us, for the most part. We won’t forget your kindness.”

A little smile spread across Brian’s face. “Thank you.” he said, stepping back. It kind of felt like a weight was lifted off of John’s shoulders, in more ways than one. Now he was free from his old life, and was stepping into his new one. 


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sirens say goodbye.

Ringo  was still in complete shock even hours after this whole thing had happened. He still couldn’t believe that them  _ singing  _ had brought Paul back to  _ life  _ after he had  _ died. _ It felt like something out of a story! He made it his duty to pay full attention to Paul in case anything bad happened, but his friend seemed pretty good and was doing fine. It was so weird, but a good weird.

They had wandered a bit away from Arville and had stopped by the bay. They were still trying to figure out what to do now that they were free from the  _ Dianthus _ . 

“I think we should just live here for a while.” George suggested on the shore. Ringo was lying next to Paul, his tentacles curled around Paul’s blue tail. “It would be nice.”

“Like, on land?” Paul said.

“Well, you wouldn’t be on land  _ all  _ the time,” George said. “You could go into the bay during the day and then visit us sometimes.”

“I like that idea.” Cynthia said, leaning against John’s shoulder. “I’m sure there’s a house by the bay we can move into. And we can always see how Paul’s doing.”

“I  _ told  _ you, I’m fine.” Paul said, propping himself up on his elbows. “I just had a little accident.”

“Accident? You died.” John said sternly.

“Only for a few minutes.” replied Paul.

“You still  _ died _ ,” Ringo said. “And besides. I think the idea is swell.”

“I just hope we don’t have to spend  _ too  _ much time on land,” Paul said, his tail flicking. “I never want to breathe air for as long as I had to recently ever again.”

George looked slightly disappointed, but he sighed. “I could understand that,” he said. “You don’t have to visit us that much. I mean, you’re sirens. You’re supposed to be in the water.”

Ringo reluctantly agreed. “We’ll see you sometimes.” he said. “We promise to come back! We won’t be far.”

John stared at the two of them, a mixture of emotions in his brown gaze. Ringo knew that John, most out of all of them, would hate to see them go. They had changed his life. “We’ll be back,” Ringo murmured again.

“Let’s just spend one last night together,” Cynthia said. “Then you both can go in the morning.”

“Alright,” Ringo said, satisfied. He knew one night wouldn’t be enough time to say goodbye to the people who had saved his life. 

They spent the night talking, laughing, and telling stories beside the ocean. Ringo felt strangely content, though. Everything had turned out right in the end. He had been reunited with Paul and John and George had made it out of the  _ Dianthus  _ alive. But he still felt bad about having to leave his friends.

The morning came too quickly, and it was time to go. Ringo woke Paul, who was curled up in John and George’s collective lap. “It’s time to go.” he murmured.

Paul’s eyes opened sleepily. “What? Already?”

Ringo nodded. “Best go before it gets too hot.”

Paul slid out onto the sand. “I don’t want to wake them.” he said. “But I do want to say goodbye.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand.” Ringo said. “And besides, we’ll see them again.”

Paul bit his lip. “I guess so.”

The two of them sat on the shore, water running over their scales. Paul stretched and yawned. “Well, we do have a long day, don’t we?” he said. 

“Yeah,” Ringo nodded slowly and crawled a bit further into the water, Paul following. He looked over his shoulder one last time at the three humans who had saved his life.  _ Goodbye,  _ he thought.  _ We’ll see you again, but...it feels so final now. Thank you for saving me and Paul...we’ll never forget about you. _

Then, with one last deep breath, the two sirens disappeared under the warm water’s surface.


	26. Chapter 26

John stared out onto the blue water’s surface, watching as the sun shimmered on the waves through his small cottage window. It was quiet this morning, as it was every day. Now that John lived by himself, there was never much noise. 

He didn’t mind the silence much, though, and it didn’t pain him to be by himself  _ all  _ the time. Only when he thought about it too much. Cynthia, who eventually became his wife, had died a few years ago, and George, who found a wife of his own and moved a few miles away, had passed many decades ago. So now John was by himself. But again, he didn’t mind it too much.

He was old now. Nothing really excited him that much anymore, so a quiet life by the ocean was perfect for him. Besides, John hardly saw anybody anyway, not even visitors.

That was the hard part.

Paul and Ringo had left that morning so many years ago without even waking them, but they came by almost every week afterward. But their visits became fewer and farther between, and one day they just...eventually stopped coming. John had been confused, and hurt...but he finally came to terms with it. 

He just hoped they were doing alright. He hoped they had managed to find somewhere safe to live. He hoped they kept singing, and kept having fun. He hoped nobody ever bothered them anymore. He hoped they had plenty of nice jewelry to put on every day, and had plenty of company in other sirens. He hoped they didn’t have any hard feelings towards humans. In a weird way, he hoped they didn’t miss him at all. He didn’t want them to feel sad or scared or angry ever again.

John hoped they had found lots of little sirens to tell their stories to. He hoped others looked up to them, and everything went their way all the time. He hoped Paul never got hurt again, and Ringo was never separated from him ever again either. He hoped...they never forgot about John and George, and...they still remembered his name.

But John knew he probably wouldn’t see them again. It was okay. They were probably old sirens now, and swimming was probably a trek for them anyway. But that didn’t stop him from looking for them. Every time he went out by the shore he kept his eye out for certain things, like the fuzz of Paul’s black hair or the shine of Ringo’s yellow tentacles. And even now, so many years from that wild adventure, he still looked for the flash of scales at  **the end** of a siren tail. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading everybody, this story was a lot of fun to write. Please keep an eye out for some of my other fics, I have plenty stocked up for the future. Anyway, thanks again, and I'm gonna sign out. Catch you later! 🍋


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